The Stone Cage – Nicholas Stuart Gray

I loved this book as a child. I have no idea of how many times I read it, over and over.

It’s the story of Rapunzel, told from the point of view of the witch’s cat and is probably the first re-worked fairy tale I ever read.

The cat, Tomlyn, being a witch’s familiar, is not good. He likes black magic, he complains about everyone, he snitches on his friends and yet he still pulls through and helps, complaining the whole time of course. All this is told with such deftness and humour, making him a shaded and loveable character compared to the black and white of early childhood fairy tales.

The book, however, is out of print. Has been for a long time and I’ve spent years browsing every second hand book stall and charity shop in the hopes of a copy. It is possible to get hold of it – for about fifty quid from booksellers who know it’s worth.(Although I do wonder how long overpriced books just sit gather dust. How does the potential profit balance against storage? But that’s a topic for another day).

But last week was my birthday and my fab husband, Tony, trawled the Amazon used sections and managed to get hold of an ex-library copy. Hurray!!

So now, after all these years, I can share it with my kids.

Do you have a long-lost, best-loved book from your childhood?