Tom the Obscure

For the legions of Lucy Ellmann admirers; the cat book of the year that will make the perfect stocking filler

By the author of Ducks, Newburyport, shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2019 Bloomsbury Publishing is given over to the life of the mind – the entire building is adorned, insulated and overwhelmed by books. Yet the snacking habits of the Editorial Department have given rise to a problematic situation – the place has been invaded by mice! Into this mousey coup d’etat steps Tom, a marvellous heathen of a ginger farm cat who’s never seen a book in his life. His career begins promisingly, but his effectiveness soon comes into question. Tom settles so well into the Bloomsbury routine that he sleeps soundly in his armchair at night while the mice run riot upstairs. Tom, it seems, is not cut out for mousing. He is an intellectual, he is Tom the Obscure, and destined for greater things…