Please Take Me Home: The Story of the Rescue Cat

In Please Take Me Home, Clare Campbell takes us on a journey with the nation's rescue cats, from being treated as pests throughout history to being the pet of choice today.

For a long time, stray cats in Britain were seen as a nuisance and hunted down as vermin. Having invited this wild, independent creature into our homes, humans did not extend their welcome for long. Over time, thousands of cats were subsequently abandoned and left to live on the margins of survival.

There were, however, the kind few who sought to help. But these good spirited people were often scorned, even derided as 'mad'. A Princess of Wales was even told to stop helping lost cats in order to avoid a royal scandal; the story was kept a secret of state for years. It would take over a century for strays to become the beloved rescue cats of today, with some now gaining celebrity status, such as Downing Street's Larry or Street Cat Bob.

Please Take Me Home is a fascinating and insightful history through the ages of the struggle for cats to exist in domesticity alongside mankind.

Clare Campbell is an author and journalist. She writes regularly for the Daily Mail and contributes to Marie Claire. She is the author of Out of It and Tokyo Hostess. Recently she ghosted the national bestseller, Bringing Down the Krays, by Bobby Teale. Her husband and co-author Christy Campbell is the former defence correspondent of the Sunday Telegraph. He is the author of The Maharajah's Box, Fenian Fire, Phylloxera, Band of Brigands and Target London. Together, they are the authors of Bonzo's War and Dogs of Courage.