So, without further ado, it is our pleasure to present, The Fire Cats of London by the hugely talented Anna Fargher! Two comets appeared in 1664 and 1665 and were interpreted as harbingers of The Great Plague and The Great Fire respectively. People were also nervous that the biblical number 666 in 1666 indicated evil was brewing. Samuel Pepys wrote: ‘For the whole year, the population of London had a great sense of foreboding, because the year had the number of the devil in it – 666.’

In April 1666, a group of parliamentarians led by John Rathbone and William Saunders were found guilty of trying to assassinate Charles II and setting fire to the city. Their “Hellish design” was planned to take place on the anniversary of Oliver Cromwell’s death, 3 September – a day after the start of the actual Great Fire of London.

What happened after the fire?

Thomas Farriner and his family climbed out of the window, to the roof, and escaped to the neighbour’s house… all except their maid. One beacon of hope is Miriam, a Dutch widow who is also an astrologer and herbal medicine practitioner. She knows of Asta’s and Ash’s plight but is reviled by Rathder and Moore because she does them out of business and is a foreigner. She also tries to rescue animals from the arena. But before they could use fire hooks, the people of Pudding Lane needed to ask the Lord Mayor if they were allowed to – and he had to say ‘yes’. S am Usher graduated from the University of West England and his debut picture book Can You See Sassoon? was shortlisted for the Waterstones Prize and the Red House Children’s Book Award. He is particularly admired for his technical drawing skill and prowess with watercolour. Also a talented pianist, when he’s not holding a pen and wobbling at paper you’ll find him perfecting a fiendishly difficult piece of Chopin. I am a sensitive reader myself, I admit it. But, I can appreciate that this is an excellent, powerful, well-framed and pitched book that will please readers.

Blurb Step into historic London and follow the fearless acts of two young wildcats caught in the Great Fire, in The Fire Cats of London: a story of daring and courage from bestselling, award-winning author of The Umbrella Mouse, Anna Fargher.Young wildcats, Asta and Ash, find themselves captured and taken from their home in the forest to an apothecary’s shop in the heart of London in the summer of 1666, when fear and superstition are rife. Asta’s determination to escape, leads them to Miriam, a healer with a soft spot for animals. Treated by the people of London as a witch, no one will listen to Miriam when she tries to warn them that something terrible is about to happen. So when Asta and Ash overhear a dangerous plot to destroy London, they embark on a perilous race against time to clear Miriam’s name before the flames are let loose on the city.