Author and Publisher, Jon Holden, had a book launch for his latest book titled “The True Story of Aunt Mabel’s Dead Cat” at the Kingaroy Library recently.

The book launch was an opportunity for readers and members of the public to gain the background story to such a strange title for a book, for there is a saying that goes: “Truth is stranger than fiction,” and this was very much the case for the impetus for the writing of this most unusual story.

Without giving too much of the storyline away, the story is about an elderly lady who had the grave misfortune of having her most precious companion in life – her cat – die in the middle of an Australian summer the week before Christmas. All of a sudden her plans for the day were completely ‘thrown out of the window’ as she now had to think of a way to dispose of her dearly beloved deceased befitting all the affection that she had for her precious cat. A dignified burial was needed and nothing seemed to be going to plan no matter how hard she tried!

The story was told to the author and his brothers by his father when he was quite young, so some of the details have long since been forgotten, but nevertheless, there was enough of the story that has remained with the author over the years to form the basis of this quite hilarious yarn – full of embellishments to enhance the tail of course!

The book should more correctly be referred to as a ‘booklet of 40 pages’ as the author has dived right to the heart of the story without too much superfluous descriptive padding – the reader can use their own imagination to fill in the details (the author wasn’t there as an observer – and neither were you – so your imagination is as good as his.)

Having written the book, the next task for the author was to find a suitable cover for the book. Of course a picture of a dead cat would never do – it had to be a picture of an ‘Aunt Mabel’ type lady with her precious cat somewhere in the picture. The task seemed simple enough at first until the author tried to get; elderly lady, cat, and the appropriate background setting all in the one photo. It turned out to be an almost impossible job to pull it all together. For instance, where do get hold of a friendly black and white tabby cat to borrow for half an hour to take photos? The RSPCA cat pound was the author’s first port of call, and yes, the staff were delighted to be of help, and yes, there were several black and white tabby cats to choose from and they were all very friendly. “Perfect!” I thought. “Too easy!”

“Aarh, just one small detail before you borrow the cat for tomorrow,” the receptionist said, “I just need to check with HQ to see if it is OK with them first.” She added.

Well, as it turned out, when the author returned the next day he was given the disappointing news that; “Lending out cats was not the RSPCA’s core business, and that you’ll have to go and look elsewhere.”

And so the saga continued for the next several months (many more stories could be told here) until the author stumbled by chance upon someone who could easily be described as the modern-day version of the story book ‘Aunt Mabel.’ Gayle not only had the cat that she loved and adored, but the costume, an old chair that was perfect for that era, and the willingness to pose for the photos. After so much waiting and so many disappointments, it was all done and dusted in a matter of minutes.

As Gayle told us of her own cat (who was seventeen and a half years old,) there emerged many historical similarities between her cat and the cat in the story – both were strays that were adopted as kittens in very similar circumstances, given similar names, and the background location was almost next door villages to that which was depicted in the book!

A delightful story that both young and old will appreciate, and is sure to grow with the retelling around the campfire or wherever a captive audience may be found.

The author trusts that you will enjoy this yarn as much as he did when he first heard it all those many years ago.