Varjak Paw: re-issue - Softcover

"A beguiling tale that sticks in the memory. The cat's whiskers" (The Sunday Times)

"Stylish, original and inventive, Varjak Paw is a modern children's classic"

"Dazzling" (The New York Times)

"The book is compulsive reading; we are with Varjak every step of his way, willing him to succeed. Independent readers of 9 upwards will treasure it, not least for its illustrations, and some will camp out on the publisher's doorstep for the sequel" (Ann Hay, The School Librarian)

"The cat magic mystique is brilliant" (Richard Adams Author of Watership Down)

Some people find it strange when I say it took 17 drafts to get Varjak Paw right. 17 drafts? Isn't that a lot? But George Lucas did 100 drafts of his first Star Wars script. Hemingway rewrote constantly. I take my story as seriously as they took theirs.

Varjak Paw is about a cat who discovers a mystical, magical martial art. This cat must learn to fight: for his way, his identity, his life. He must fight his family, who don't understand him; he must fight vicious gangs of street cats and dangerous dogs. He must fight to survive in a city where cats mysteriously Vanish.

Those 17 drafts were about making the storytelling totally addictive, trying to give it the depth of a timeless, classic myth. And with his incredible illustrations, Dave McKean has taken it to another level. For me, this is a book about being small in a big world, but learning that you're more than you think you are. I'd like to think you'll get something out of it, whoever you are.