Set in the rugged and picturesque Scottish highlands, Thomasina, the Cat Who Thought She Was God or Thomasina is a 1957 novel by Paul Gallico about a cat, owned by a child whose strict father must learn that love is powerful enough to help others.
Perhaps Thomasina did not really have divine powers. Possibly she was only an ordinary cat. But it cannot be denied that she changed three lives in a near-miraculous manner.
There was Andrew MacDhui, Scottish veterinarian, whose bristling manner matched his fiery beard. Dour and withdrawn since his wife's death, he had little patience with helping sick animals back to health. There was Andrew's seven-year-old daughter, who brought her ailing cat, Thomasina, to her father to be cured - only to be bitterly disappointed by Andrew's hasty and unfeeling disposal of her beloved cat. And there was Lori - beautiful, 'daft Lori', whose gentle and mysterious powers of healing caused some of the villagers to call her a saint - or a witch.
How Thomasina, taking full advantage of a cat's nine lives, brought these three together in a story which may be enjoyed for its face-value excitement and whimsey, but in which the more discerning reader will find both trenchant allegory and spirit-lifting philosophy.
Scotland
