Magnificat

if you love cat stories you will enjoy this book

I choose to read this book because I love cats and I love books about cats. I can truly say this is one of the best cat stories I have ever read. I found it very difficult to to put the book down once I'd started it. I found it very moving as Ben at first wanted a dog, but was eventually won over by the charms of the cat (he called Magnificat).The kidnapping of the cat was especially heart wrenching as it tried to look after itself - and give birth to 2 kittens on her own. How she journeyed home is amazing and how Ben and his friends found her really tugs at your heart strings. There is a happy ending to the tale and I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves cats.

Yes it,s another birthday gift to a long time widow and dedicated cat lover. Earlier reviews have sold me it . I may even try to read it myself before it is gift wrapped .

Loved this read

I was looking forward to Marilyn Edward's new book and was not disappointed! I read Magnificat in one day, and it left me wanting more! This lady is indeed the Queen of Cats and it shows in all of her books. She knows cats insideout, and being a cat lover myself, it was great to read all the little titbits of information about Magnificat's winning ways and behavoir. The characters came alive and it was so nice to see how Ben's heart was captured by this little cat. I have all of Marilyn's books now, and have lent them to friends who are impressed with them too. They are all such wonderful stories, and I find myself picking them up to read again and again. Magnificat is a book that can be enjoyed by children and adults alike, and I know that even readers who are not total cat lovers will find they are by the time they get to the end of this book. Highly recommended along with all her other books. I must also add that the illustrations by Fance Bauduin are delightful too.

I have read all of her 'cottage' books over the last few years and decided to try this one- not disappointed at all.

`Magnificat,' by best-selling author of The Cats of Moon Cottage, Marilyn Edwards, is an absolute joy to read. I was hooked from page one and suffered withdrawal symptoms when I finished the book. This is a real page-turner and I loved the flow of the story line which gripped me from the beginning.Ben is a troubled and troublesome young boy living with his mother. He has an absentee father and to make up for the lack of a relationship with him, he desperately wants a dog. His best friends, twins, Chloe and Josh, have the ebullient and effusive `Clueless' a faithful dog that Ben loves to spend time with, but when his mother finds that he has used her credit card for a `cyber dog' on line, he gets into real trouble.There is a strong resonance of anger, resentment, rebellion all rising to the surface in Ben's head and his relationship with his mother slowly falls apart.Magnificat is a stray cat living on her wits and somehow, living on the mean streets, she manages to find her way to the presbytery where a kind priest, Father John-Henry, takes her in and feeds her. By a string of coincidences Chloe and Ben find themselves at the church and Magnificat sees Ben and knows that he is the boy for her.Ben is less certain. You can't do anything with a cat, can you? But over time, Ben comes to realise that Magnificat is the cat for him. When she goes missing for several months Ben, with the help of Father John-Henry, Chloe and Josh, pull out all the stops to try and find her again.This really is a gripping story. The reader will root for Ben and Magnificat alike and without giving away the end of the story, I will just say that I shed tears - of sadness and joy - at Marilyn's marvellous story-writing expertise.Marilyn has encompassed her considerable knowledge of wildlife and the countryside, not to mention her vast experience with cat behaviour, to make this book one fantastic read. The reader is taken on a journey and from beginning to end, you have no idea how it will pan out.As always, there are lessons to learn along the way. `... this dear, beautiful, beloved cat had taught Ben so much. She had taught him gallantry and tenacity and loyalty and honesty and the importance of being true to oneself. She had even taught him of the existence of angels - or magic - or maybe just how to be brave. And more than all of these things she had shown him how to love and to be loved, a gift so great that it had spilled over into the rest of his life so that he was now able to reach out and properly give his love to others and, yes, to allow them to love him back.' (page 218)Those of us who are blessed, and have been blessed, to share our lives, our homes, and our hearts, with cats, know that they teach us far more about ourselves than we could ever teach them. And we are always the richer for our experience of having our own `Magnificat' in our lives.Thank you Marilyn, for what has been for me, the best read of the year so far.This book is beautifully illustrated by France Baudin.

This writer is probably one of the best (or the best) at writing non-fiction cat books for older children and teenagers - and maybe some adults will like this too.I bought this as a present for a younger reader and she loves it. For me it's a bit sentimental and emotional, but then I am not a teenager - and this is written from a teenager's perspective. Recommended for all teen cat lovers! Because of the sentimental overload, 4 stars is fair I think, but maybe 4.5.I liked the drawings at the start of each chapter too.For me, the best cat book of the year is the hilarious novel A Cat Called Dog, though that's for older readers; for children, this book is perfect.