''Varjak Paw'' (2003) is a novel by the British author

S. F. Said S. F. Said (born 1967) is a British children's writer. His first novel was ''Varjak Paw'' (2003), illustrated by Dave McKean and published by David Fickling Books in January 2003; four months later in the U.S., ''Varjak Paw'' won the 2003 Nestlé ...

and illustrated by

Dave McKean David McKean (born 29 December 1963) is an English illustrator, photographer, comic book artist, graphic designer, filmmaker and musician. His work incorporates drawing, painting, photography, collage, found objects, digital art, and sculpt ...

. The illustrations in this book have a dark "gothic" quality. The novel received the 2003 Smarties Gold Award for the 6–8 years range and has been adapted for other media.

Characters

*Varjak Paw, a very young kitten and the main protagonist of the story *Jalal the Paw, A Mesopotamian blue cat who ventured out into the Outside and found a home with the Countessa. *Elder Paw, Varjak's grandfather and one of the few who remembers (part of) The Way of Jalal *Sally Bones, the mysterious white cat who lords over the West Side of the city. She knows "The Way" *Razor, Sally Bones' lieutenant *Ginger, the ruler of the East Side of the city *The Contessa, The old woman who owns the family of Jalal *The Gentleman, a mysterious man who appears one day at the Contessa's house *The Black Cats, two black cats that accompany The Gentleman; perfect fighting machines that are almost invulnerable *Cludge, a dog who Varjak meets and who saves him from the Gentleman *Julius Paw, Varjak's older brother *Father, Son of Elder Paw, Father of Jay, Jerome, Jethro, Julius, and Varjak *Aunt Juni, Mother to Jasmine, Aunt to Jay, Jethro, Jerome, Julius, and Varjak *Mother, Mother of Jay, Jethro, Jerome, Julius, and Varjak *Holly, Varjak's future mate. *Tam, a tabby cat and Holly, and Varjak's best friend Varjak Paw's name is an allusion to the film '' Breakfast at Tiffany's''. In the film, one of the main characters, Paul Varjak, has written a book called "Nine Lives". When he and another character look for the book in the library catalog, it is listed as "Nine Lives by Varjak, Paul". S.F. Said is not known to have commented on this connection.

Adaptations

Theatre

In October 2013,

Playbox Theatre Company Playbox Theatre Company is a theatre company for children and young people based in Warwick. Playbox provide training for children and young people aged 3-25 in various different areas, including theatre training, musical theatre, circus, voice ...

took on ''Varjak Paw'' in a major multi-media production.

Opera

In 2010, composer

Julian Philips Julian Philips is a British composer. Philips' works have been performed at major music festivals, including The Proms, Tanglewood, Three Choirs Festival, at the Wigmore Hall, South Bank Centre and Berlin Philharmonic Chamber Music Hall and by ...

completed an opera on ''Varjak Paw'', to a libretto by Kit Hesketh-Harvey, performed by The Opera Group in September–November.

Film

As of March 2006, ''Varjak Paw'' has been optioned by The Jim Henson Company to be developed as an animated family feature film, with Faith Fawusi as director.

References

External links

Official site
{{Portal , Children's literature 2003 British novels British children's novels British Gothic novels Children's novels about animals 2003 children's books Novels about cats British children's books David Fickling Books books