Jeoffry: The Poet's Cat

by Oliver Soden

'An inspired an original tale ... Jeoffry is the greatest cat in the English language' Hilary Mantel'Simply unforgettable ... one of the most beautiful and haunting books of recent times' Alexander McCall Smith'A heart-lifting delight; I absolutely loved it. A triumph' Alexandra Harris

Jeoffry was a real cat who lived 250 years ago, confined to an asylum with Christopher Smart, one of the most visionary poets of the age. In exchange for love and companionship, Smart rewarded Jeoffry with the greatest tribute to a feline ever written. 

Prize-winning biographer Oliver Soden combines meticulous research with passages of dazzling invention to recount the life of the cat praised as ‘a mixture of gravity and waggery’. The narrative roams from the theatres and bordellos of Covent Garden to the cell where Smart was imprisoned for mania. At once whimsical and profound, witty and deeply moving, Soden’s biography plays with the genre like a cat with a toy. It tells the story of a poet and a poem, while setting Jeoffry’s life and adventures against the roaring backdrop of eighteenth-century London.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Poetry, History, Cats, Animals, Biography Memoir

122 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 24, 2020

About the author

Oliver Soden is a writer and broadcaster, and the author of Michael Tippett: The Biography. Published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson in April 2019, the biography was hailed by Philip Pullman as a "delight to read", and was read (by the author) for BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week, with Sir Derek Jacobi playing Tippett.

Oliver was educated at Lancing College in Sussex, and at Clare College, Cambridge, where he took a double first in English. For his research on Michael Tippett he was awarded a Fellowship in the Humanities from the University of Texas at Austin.

His essays and reviews have appeared in a wide variety of publications, including the Guardian, Gramophone, The Art Newspaper, BBC Music Magazine, and Musical Quarterly, and he is the editor of an edition of John Barton's ten-play epic Tantalus. He has appeared as a guest on the Six O'Clock News (BBC Radio 4), Proms Plus, Twenty Minutes, Music Matters, Composer of the Week, and Live in Concert (BBC Radio 3).

Oliver has worked as an assistant producer for a number of award-winning television documentaries, including George III: The Genius of the Mad King and Janet Baker: In Her Own Words (Crux productions), and is part of the team behind BBC Radio 3's long-running programme Private Passions.

Born in 1990, he grew up in Bath and Sussex, and lives in London.

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came to this book unfamiliar with the poet Christopher Smart's lines about his cat Jeoffry, which are supposedly much anthologized, but they're reproduced here along with everything else there is to know about this cat. Soden also weaves in a great deal more that he has imagined, for an ankle-level panorama of 18th century life.

Jeoffry is born in a cupboard and spends a rather cosseted youth (by the standards of the time) in an imagined London brothel. He is later given as a gift to the poet Smart who was confined to an asylum, due to what might have been bipolar disorder. He follows Smart in and out of the asylum and private accommodation provided by sympathetic friends, always nearby as Smart augments his religious epic poem and suffers ecstasies and physical illness. After Smart's death, Soden imagines an elderly Jeoffry living out his days with a kind lady in the countryside. The coziness of cat and human having each other to cuddle contrasts with the rough edges of the 18th century. Both Jeoffry and Smart are treated with a kind of inconsistently affectionate impatience, their friends intervening to protect them from the harshness of the world.

Though it is too twee at some moments, this is a book that would please anyone who loves cats or the 18th century or both, and it's nicely presented including contemporary images of cats getting into trouble. The blurb from Hilary Mantel is what caused this to appear in my stocking and it has a wry humor that would appeal to her fans.

P.S. On page 106, with an eleven-year-old Jeoffry becoming accustomed to his solitary lodging with Smart, we have the unexpectedly relevant observation that "Perhaps we realise we are in our prime only when we are denied our chance to enjoy it."

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this read a lot. The creation of a mostly fictional life around a real-life cat was well done and the writing beautiful. I didn’t think I would be so attached to, and intrigued by, a cat’s life. I learned a lot by reading this book, too.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book as a Lockdown 2.0 present to myself, in my last trip to Waterstones Blackheath before they close the bookshops. (I despise that off-licenses are essential but bookshops aren't - you can buy both in Tesco's, after all.) It was absolutely delightful and I cried at the end, which was a valid way of processing my emotions about this situation.

There's a bit of conjecture, obviously, but surprisingly not as much as I expected given the time period and the source material. Soden at one point has an obviously manufactured description of Jeoffry meeting another cat and licking its nose - "For if he meets another cat he will kiss her in kindness" - but I am totally fine with it. The poem itself is one of my favourites, which is why I picked this book up. Credit to the bookshop, though: it was on a display stand with a very diverse range of random titles and I doubt I would ever have come across it on my own. Appealing to the browsing booklover is one algorithm fucking Amazon has never cracked.

I also love the parts about Nancy - I wonder is she the same Nancy as portrayed in 'Harlots'? I hope so, because that Nancy deserves a Jeoffry.

"With a great effort, he leapt up onto Smart's lap and pushed his proud ageing little body against the familiar chest with all his might."

Okay I'm crying again.

I also agree with Britten, who wrote him an aria: "I am afraid I have gone ahead, and used a bit about the cat Jeffrey [sic], but I don't see how it could hurt anyone - he is such a nice cat."

[Wanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

25 NOV 2024 - Jeoffry - I really loved him.

[Alex McEwen · Rating 5 out of 5]

2025 Requiescat
I’m known to be a sucker for cat literature, poetry, single sitting books, and theology. So when Han gifted me “Jeoffry: The Poet’s Cat” back in 2023, she may not have known just how well it would land with me. Or maybe she did, and maybe that’s part of the point.

It’s an easy book to read the first time, and an even easier one to return to. A comfort read in the truest sense. Today’s reading was particularly enjoyable, not just because it’s short, but because it became what I am now as of today classifying as a single cocktail book- one that can be enjoyed and completed between the first sip and the last.

There’s something holy about the way Jeoffry moves. Not just in the lines Christopher Smart wrote, though they slink with a kind of mad clarity. But in the imagined world of “Jeoffry: The Poet’s Cat”, where the cat becomes a monastic companion to an old, forgotten poet. A kind of Pangur Bán, guiding a wounded man through the last chapters of his life.

Jeoffry’s life is not extraordinary. He eats. He stretches. He plays with mice. He watches the rain. He rolls around in the garden. And that’s the point! His faithfulness isn’t found in what he does, but in how he stays.

He stays with the poet. With the cold floor. With the silence of a God who sometimes seems very far away. While Smart raves and scribbles, caged and scorned, Jeoffry keeps watch. He keeps the hours. He guards the flickering light.

After I finished Annie B Jones’ “Ordinary Time” a few weeks ago, I just can’t stop thinking about the liturgy of “staying.” And I can’t help but think, isn’t that what we’re all trying to do? To keep some kind of rhythm, that sacred liturgy. To pray without ceasing in the only ways we know how. To bear witness, even in silence. To wait. To hope. To stay.

There’s a line in the book where Jeoffry, in his own way, seems to recognize that the poet is both lost and held. And I think about how often we are both those things! Pilgrims walking through shadows, unsure of the way, and yet somehow still being kept. Not by strength. Not by clarity. But by a love that refuses to let us go.

Jeoffry never delivers a sermon. He never has a vision. He doesn’t heal Smart or change the ending of his story. But he remains. And sometimes remaining is the whole of the work!

Jeoffry teaches us that f aithfulness rarely looks like brilliance. Sometimes it looks like just sitting next to someone who is hurting. Sometimes it’s watching the door and waiting for guests. Sometimes is watching stars start to melt away as the sun rises. Sometimes it’s sitting in the summer sun and enjoying the garden. Sometimes it’s doing your work, stretching your limbs, and receiving the small graces of the day without rushing past them.

Jeoffry reminds me that the kingdom of God is a quiet place, a place where poets and animals and broken men are not just tolerated, but welcomed.

2023
“For I will consider my cat Jeoffry.
For he is the servant of the Living God duly and daily serving him.”

This book was a gift from my wonderful wife several months ago. It has come off my shelf and into my tbr pile a dozen times, just to be put back on the shelf in favor of more pressing works. I was a fool for not visiting this book sooner. This may be my favorite book I have read this year.

This novella is a familiar favorite from the first page through the last. At first this seems to be the heartwarming tale of a cat named Jeoffry and this is very much that. But much like how the Count’s story in Amor Towle’s a Gentlemen in Moscow unfolds into a larger narrative and history in the novel, Jeoffry’s tale is one that unfolds a brief history of London in the mid 1700’s. The story of Jeoffry is also Christian in nature. And while the author may or may not be explicitly Christian, the story of Jeoffry is.

Jeoffry will stand next to Pangur Ban and Behemoth in the halls of great and fantastical literary cats.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

*4.5 stars.
"...and pour herself up onto the bed, to sleep all night at its foot, a thrumming loaf of warmth" (9).
"...he purred articulately and then arranged himself into a crescent of knowing elegance at her side" (25).
"...into the yard of sunlight that arrived on cue after lunch in the summer months" (30).
"...the symphony of scent that spun itself across the paving stones…" (31).
"...foaming with lace..." (133).

[Adam Stevenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the troubles with being a Christopher Smart fan is that there’s a limit on how much there is to read, so I was extremely excited when something Kit Smart related popped up on my Twitter feed, I was even more excited when I saw the unusual nature of this project.

Jeoffry the Poet’s Cat is the biography of a cat. Namely the one which Smart praised in Jubilate Agno, a section of the book which is now so widely anthologised I can easily lay may hands on a copy at the primary school I work in. As there’s no more information about Jeoffry than appears in the poem, there’s a fair bit of poetic licence, creating a wonderfully indefinable book presented in language that is both wonderfully simple yet detailed.

Our imagined backstory for Jeoffry has him born in a cattery, or brothel, because of course he is, not just for pun related reasons but to let Jeoffry (and the reader) explore the world of eighteenth century sex for sale and Covent Garden in general. He spends his kittenhood “underneath the bed” while his owner, a prostitute called Nancy spends her time “underneath a cavalry officer.” His early pranks involve scattering venereal disease pills and his favourite toys are the re-washable condoms, his claws probably making them even less useful than they were anyway. We also briefly meet a lord who likes to be treated like a baby.

As Jeoffry gets older, he starts to explore more and we get a cat’s-eye view of the variety and life of Covent Garden, from the market stalls with their rotting vegetables, so a glimpse of the king outside Drury Lane theatre. He becomes a favourite of the doormen at the opera as well as the theatre, is stroked by an actor with a pleasing voice and jostles with strange cats.
“Of dogs, and his encounters with their noxious enthusiasm or salivating rage, we shall not speak.”

Alas, even brothels as well-connected as Mother Douglas’s are raided at times and in the confusion, Jeoffry finds himself with a young volunteer constable. Oliver Soden has a very skilful way of telling parts of the story from Jeoffry’s perspective, getting right down among the legs and shoes of the other characters, feeling his fear and injury as the raid happens as well as his lack of understanding, but then pulling back to giving the historical and character context. This is done so smoothly that the changes of point-of-view never jar.

The scene where Christopher Smart and Jeoffry are introduced is beautifully done. Each is wary of the other, nursing a distrust but also a longing to connect. Their meeting is a delicate wordless series of actions, tentatively done after which the book admits that an accurate portrayal of the moment can’t be described. Then the reader is taken back to find out a little more about Smart as he is, though a supporting player, is a major one.

The book gives a really good overview of Smart as a person and a writer. That he was from an upper servant class, that he became a sizar in Cambridge where he worked hard to become a fellow. That his sense of fun and his poetic gifts took him to London where he entered the Grub Street pattern of ‘conveyor-belt churn-out and genuine inspiration’ and that he married the step-daughter of Newbery, the publisher. I’d have included the transvestite revue shows in there but I can see they complicate things a little. The exact timeframe of the next events are a little unsure and Soden does well to turn them into a coherent narrative; Smart gets sick and upon his recovery decides to take instructions from the Bible to pray at all times literally, where he stops traffic in St James’s Park. The book admits that the exact cause (and extent) of Smart’s madness is unclear and has been debated about; with no-one certain whether it was a manipulation by his father-in-law, whether it was bi-polar disorder hinted at by Smart’s admission that he has ‘a greater compass for mirth and melancholy’ than other people, or whether it was stress deepened by an alcoholism that was notable even in those alcoholic times.

For whichever reason, or combination of reasons, Christopher Smart ended up in a private madhouse, where he started writing Jubilate Agno, a poem built on a Hebrew model that involved call and response lines. In this case the call lines starting with ‘let’ and the responses with ‘for’. There’s the suggestion in the book that sometimes Smart wrote ‘let’ lines without their corresponding ‘for’ and vice versa, though I am more inclined to think that corresponding lines have simply been lost in the manuscripts many journeys. However, the book is very accurate in how Jubilate Agno stopped being a just a poem and also became a way of marking time, of recording his thoughts and feelings and trails off into an almost mechanical act.
One of the fascinating elements to how this part of the story is told is again the viewpoint of Jeoffry. Both the poet and the cat find themselves in the prime of their lives but locked in a small room with access to a little garden. As such imprisonment for Smart is also imprisonment for Jeoffry and this diminishes the cat just as it did the man. However, there are moments of company and ‘Jeoffry made occasional contact with distinguished legs’, including Johnson, Burney, Garrick and Oliver Goldsmith. Now, I love Goldsmith almost as much as Smart and he so rarely makes an appearance in things that I treasure him whenever he does. Now, it makes sense, Goldsmith was a closer friend to Smart than Johnson, sharing a publisher and a circle of friends that included lesser poets like Samuel Derrick. However, Goldsmith is portrayed reading out his novel in progress, doing the character’s voices and making Smart laugh. While I don’t doubt Goldsmith would make him laugh (and I love the image) I can’t imagine him reading from a work in progress, but that could just be me.

The peculiar ease with which Smart was broken out of the mad house is well done, leading to (perhaps) the sadder part of his life, as a hack with his reputation shattered and no luck at all. Jeoffry makes the most of freedom to again explore, where of course he meets Samuel Johnson’s cat, Hodge. We follow Hodge back to Johnson’s living room to hear most of the Samuel Johnson ‘bits’ about being as happy to pray with Smart as anyone else. Though we don’t get Johnson’s assessment of Smart’s poetry, where upon being asked who was better, Smart or Derrick, he replied, ‘Sir , there is no settling the point of precedency between a louse and a flea’.

From Jeoffry’s point of view, this is a particularly sad time, as Smart’s need to churn out words and lack of money ground Smart down bit by bit. The man who had elevated his cat with poetry and viewed him as a natural worshipper of God, now had little time for the animal and his ‘reek of despair was unmistakeable’. We get a beautiful rendering of Smart’s friend John Kempe playing his flute for him, ‘the notes hit the panelled walls and died instantly, falling to the floor to lie at Smart’s swollen feet like faded rose petals’. I do have a quibble with this section though, as many of Smart’s writings from this time have a fragile yet definite hopefulness, this is when he wrote the words ‘we never are deserted quite’ and found himself helping other people with money he’d been given for himself. I don’t think Smart ever gave up hope as he does in this book.

The last part is with Jeoffry as an old cat, living in the countryside and gradually losing his faculties until he lies down for one last sleep. ‘Nothing sweeter than his peace when at rest.’ It’s a fitting choice for a last sentence, leaving poor old Jeoffry with the dignity he deserved.

In many ways, this is a book crafted of bits, many of them from other books and all of those bits are ones I’ve encountered before, this being possibly the only book I’ve encountered where I’ve already read the entire bibliography. What makes is brilliant is that the author has clearly read their own bibliography (unlike Catherine Arnold in her Bedlam book) and the way those bits are put together and presented. They tell an entire story, taking in many interesting aspects of the eighteenth century, the shadowy interplay of brothels, theatres and authors to Smart in his private madhouse in a way that is both melancholy and dignified.

While enjoyable to a fan of Christopher Smart and the eighteenth century, this would be an even better present to someone to introduce them to the world and characters and let them dip their toes in (and would make a really good half-hour animation, I think).

[Sue Dix · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who would guess that this would be such a charming and touching “biography”? Did I cry? Yes, I did. Such a creative imagining of the life of an influential cat (but aren’t they all?). Christopher Smart was a complicated poet but he immortalized his most faithful of companions, who may have indeed led such a life as depicted within.

[meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

the whole time I was like wow I can’t believe there were so many records of this cat and then I got to the end and the afterword was like yeah it’s all fiction. you got me there Oliver

anyways. cute, made me cry

[Rick B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

So subtle and delicately written. A charming book that details the life of an intriguing cat who has been immortalized in poetic verse by Christopher Smart. 4.25 - 4.5 would be a closer rating.

[Lin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a sweet story.

[Ashley Bowers · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the love of a cat! Such a unique book. Profound and moving. I’m going to be thinking of Jeoffry and his four companions for a long time. I think I actually might have a book hangover? Hurts good.

[Marc David Bronson · Rating 5 out of 5]

More Touches than Ever Expected

Soden evokes at feeling of great familiarity and brings Jeoffry from page directly into the reader's heart.
Through subtle crafting of every living space, and with characters that are conveyed along hauntingly.
With subtle historical recollection he paints a portrait of a life. One culled in concert with the best parts will all strive towards. Love in concert within us all to love and care for on another.
True respect and care, devotion to one another and love abound from front cover to the conlusion.
A merely touching story isn't all there TV byis here.
Oliver Soden is a creative soul of deep felt talent.
His prose and scope envision a reality thats .utterly convincing.
Jeffrey more than comes alive. He enlivens all who meet him.
Every facet in the story, elegantly relates the best of loves permission in us all.
All because an extraordinary cat guides us the way showing us that no matter our lot, the love of a companion carriers us.

[Matthew Kilburn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The format - a largely fictional biography - might be an acquired taste, and the ground familiar if you know the eighteenth century, but a note at the end separates fact from fiction. The book has endearing conceits such as Jeoffry's meeting with another cat of letters, and his influence in old age on a poet in their infancy, but all inventions circle around the central fact of Christopher Smart seeing in his cat the benevolence and wonder of God, and I pray reality was as kind to Jeoffry as Oliver Soden is.

[The Old Woman of All Hallows · Rating 5 out of 5]

This author is a historian who can invoke the past and make it entertaining but also someone who appreciates and understands cats; this latter kind of magic cannot be learned, it is a gift. I read Jeoffry: The Poet's Cat on Kindle but useful at it is, an electronic reader cannot pay full respect to this miniature work of art so I've ordered the hardback edition too to keep to hand on my shelves. As cats are said to have nine lives, I like to imagine when and where Jeoffry might be reborn after he springs from the saintly Mrs Lamm's lap to refresh his spirit in the 'Heaviside Layer'.

[John Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s just epic - beautiful to read.

[Hope Fowler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a cute book and an easy read too, perfect for summer.

[Emma Creasey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Purports to be a biography of Christopher Smart's cat Jeoffry, but as it admits afterwards, we know nothing about him beyond the lines in Smart's Jubilate Agno. I knew much of it must be invention, but at the end, when Jeoffry is taken to live with a well wisher after Smart is re-committed to hospital, seemed very real and 'quoted' letters, so I was rather disappointed to find that was entirely fictional. So apart from using the (relatively little) we know about Smart's life, it is really just an opportunity for the writer to present a pen-picture of life in eighteenth-century London. 'Real' occurrences woven into the narrative include an earthquake in London which made everyone think the end of the world was coming and a riot at the theatre, as well as giving opportunities to portray the unpleasantness of eighteenth-century asylums and brothels. Essentially it's a Hogarth engraving but in book form. I felt the unpleasantness was too much; the life of cats in the eighteenth century might well have been nasty, brutish and short, but I found it distressing for this to be brought out in the sad endings of Jeoffry's parents and siblings. The world is horrible anyway, why distress ourselves with imaginings? One interesting point was that Smart much admired Geoffrey Chaucer, and may have named his cat accordingly. Interesting and well written but the real Jeoffry will forever remain a mystery.

[Gareth Reeves · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is an ambitious task to write a biography or pseudo-biography like this, based as it is on scant primary material and focusing on a marginal aspect of a fairly marginalised poet's life. The concept is appealing: as with Virginia Woolf's Flush, which Oliver Soden acknowledges as a major influence on this work, there is room for period history, animal history (how were domesticated pets kept/treated in this period?), and pathos - Christopher Smart's life was fascinating and tragic, and he spent time in an asylum with only Jeoffry for company. Yet, Soden's mainly fictional account is predictable and unmemorable, and never rises above the obvious, with an irritatingly whimsical tone in places. Perhaps worst of all, it did not move me. I do not feel that I got anything out of it.

The hardcover is beautifully presented, and would make an appealing Xmas present, at least on initial inspection. I am not saying that it should be buried like a cat's turd, but it is too slight to be worth sustained consideration.

[Sharla · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have any interest in the time period of the mid to late 1700s and you like cats, you will enjoy this book. If you like cats and have not read Christopher Smart's poetry about his cat, Jeoffrey, you should give it a look. This book concerns the life of Jeoffrey, before and after Christopher Smart. I enjoyed it a great deal.

"And all the while nobody knew that Jeoffrey had once danced in the rain with Christopher Smart, and nearly died in the 'flu-ridden fug of a lunatic asylum. Nobody guessed that he had paced with Nancy along the thick carpets of London's most infamous whorehouse, or watched Hugh Collins's mother weep as her son went off to sea with his cat under his arm. All the cats that he had been, all the lives he had led, in solitude and companionship, amid joy and madness and loss, seemed quietly to meld amid the smell of the tea leaves, and the silver clink of their pastry forks."

[Mark Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fictionalized biography of the real-life cat immortalized in Christopher Smart's poem Jubilate Agno, We experience the world of mid-18th-century London through the senses of Jeoffry as he passes through the lives of four "owners," each giving him what love they can spare in a cruel world. The prose is elegant, unsparing, and vivid. The book dredged up some fond memories of watching The Three Lives of Thomasina in 1965 on The Wonderful World of Disney (when I was seven years old, pretty much the perfect age to watch that film). Today, Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli would be ideal for capturing the spirit of Soden's work. All that said, this is not a children's book and gives unflinching accounts of the suffering of both prostitutes and the mentally ill. Like the period of history it depicts, this work accurately describes the stark contrasts between the beauty of art and the filth, disease, and cruelties of the age.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was unexpectedly sad, though I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. The life of a famous cat (fame from being featured in a poem), reimagined with historical information and creativity: excellent! Feeling close to this cat and bad for him a lot of the time: priceless. Of course, I want to meet Jeoffry, and give him a wonderful life. But just like with people, hey, he certainly led an interesting life. He experienced more than most cats could ever hope. It's overall fascinating that this cat has been such a prominent part of British literature, and it's perfect that T.S. Eliot was one of the first people to know of him and publish the poem in which he's written about, by way of that first publication being in Criterion which Eliot edited. These kinds of intricacies and happenstances: delicious!

[Fegato · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was unique and funny and emotional. I loved the mix of fiction and fact and the intricate stories that were all connected by one cat.

“And all the while nobody knew that Jeoffry had once danced in the rain with Christopher Smart, and nearly died in the 'flu-ridden fug of a lunatic asylum. Nobody guessed that he had paced with Nancy along the thick carpets of London's most infamous whorehouse, or watched Hugh Collins's mother weep as her son went off to sea with his cat under his arm. All the cats that he had been, all the lives he had led, in solitude and companionship, amid joy and madness and loss, seemed quietly to meld amid the smell of the tea leaves, and the silver clink of their pastry forks.”
(p.g.155)

[Amy Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A unique way to present the times and troubles of Christopher Smart through the eyes of his cat, Jeoffrey. Initially I was a little disappointed in how much of this 'biography' was unfounded, even to the invention of letters and diaries inserted into the text as if it were a real biography. But once I had found my footing and worked out what I was actually reading, I was delighted by the likely life (or one of the likely lives - after all, don't cats have nine?) of Jeoffrey, and the history presented through it. It's cleverly and beautifully written, a treat of a short book. It made me want to go back to the poetry of Christopher Smart.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very different take on "historical fiction," this novel details the life of Jeoffry, a very real cat in mid-18th century England, and his primary person, the poet Christopher/Kit Smart. It becomes apparent that the author knows cats and their habits well, as Jeoffry presents a very believable tale of a very believable, and real, cat. Soden researched his subject and the time period in depth, with helpful notes added after the text of the book to fill in the backstory for the reader. And he writes in a style that seems drawn from the time setting of the novel.

What an enjoyable little book!

[Kanta Kahn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! Years ago when I was an undergraduate, I wrote my Senior Paper on Smart, principally because there was a) almost nothing written about him, and b) I was in love with Jeoffry. 50 years later, I still love Jeoffry. And even still like Kit Smart, who wasn't exactly the world's finest poet. I also realize that Soden did far more research than I did! (in my defense, there was but one book at the Boston Public Library that featured him). The book is a prize, though I am not sure who the audience is. I guess other 18th century English poet fans, and to some extent, cat adorers. It got me through a bad day of COVID and I will read it again.

[Martin Sykala · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great story! The author Oliver Soden created a tale about a moggie called Jeoffry who lived around the 1700s, a friend of Kit Smart. Now this tale led me to buy addition book called Harris List - details of the ladies lived in bagnio's. This is the origin of Jeoffry. I am now seeking a copy of Smarts work Jubilate Agno - when I can one that I can afford.

The weave of this story contains fact with a good dose of fiction. Jeoffry lived to a grand age of 22 ending up in Devon and all thanks to the authors parents who had a copy of Smarts work. A great read.
Thank you Mr Soden

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once you got past the preface/introduction ,it was an interesting read if you like history as it places the poets life in social and economic context. I assume it would also be of interest to fans of the poet. I swithered between 3 & 4 star review as while I did finish it, and it was well written i felt detached from the book and could easily put it down and leave it for long periods of time. This surprised me as a cat lover. But it was still interesting. Perhaps the best way to describe it was that it veered closer to a textbook feel than story.

[Stephie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I knew going in that much of the book would be imagined unless Jeoffry's everyday goings were documented. Alas they were not. The only information known about Jeoffry are the lines in his owner Christopher Smart's poem.

The inventions of what Jeoffry did with his days are not what bugs me about this book. It was the invention of the other characters and apparent fake diary entries that are stuck in my craw. This could be a categorization issue. It is tagged as biography and history when I think it is rather more a historical fiction about a poet's cat.

There I said it.

[Chris Brind · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed how Oliver Soden describes Georgian London and its characters from the perspective of Jeoffry the cat, among the legs and shoes of the people, and then seamlessly changes the point of view to a conventional human perspective.
Through these twin lenses, we meet Jeoffry's various "masters", "mistresses" and acquaintances, Nancy Burroughs in a Covent Garden bordello, Garrick and Handel in theatreland, Hodge (Samuel Johnson's cat) and poet Christopher Smart in an asylum among others.