Gobbolino the Witch’s Cat

Story

Gobbolino is supposed to grow up to be a witch’s cat, just like his mother and like his sister, Sootica, wants to be. But Gobbolino is different from the rest of his family. He has blue eyes and one white paw and what he really wants is to be a kitchen cat and have people who love him. The story follows Gobbolino in his quest to find a home.

Why we chose it

A gentle story still making children – and cat lovers – smile over 75 years after its first publication.

Where it came from

Ursula Moray Williams (1911-2006) began writing and illustrating books at the age of nine or ten, together with her twin sister. Over the course of a long career, she wrote more than sixty books for children, illustrating many of them herself. She was also a juvenile magistrate.

Where it went next

Gobbolino The Witch’s Cat is probably the best known of Ursula Moray Williams’ books, after Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse, published three years earlier. In 2017 a new edition was produced celebrating seventy-five years since its first publication.

Associated stories

Other well-known stories by Ursula Moray Williams include Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse (1939), Bogwoppit (1978) and The Further Adventures of Gobbolino and the Little Wooden Horse (1984).