"From the instant his fingers touched her back the little cat knew. The boy was someone she would trust. Homeless and hungry, Magnificat is desperate for someone to take her in, so when she sees a kindness in local boy Ben, she is happy to give herself over to him. But a cat isn’t something Ben wants. He’s got enough problems with a prickly relationship with his mum and an absent father – besides, he’s a dog person. He wants an exuberant, loyal, doting companion, not a gentle, self-contained cat. Magnificat might move into his house, but he doubts she’ll ever find a place in his heart ."

A copy of the final draft of Magnificat was also sent to Jacqueline Wilson who read it in its entirety and said:

Marilyn Edwards is the Queen of Cat Stories. Magnificat is her best book yet, a truthful and touching story of a boy and a cat. It's a real page-turner and totally heart-warming., Jacqueline Wilson.

And on the same day that Jacqueline Wilson said that Marilyn also heard back from the Cat Rescue charity Cat Chat who said:

A smashing story, sure to inspire today's readers to become tomorrow’s cat rescuers. Mandy Cotter, Founder of Cat Chat, the Cat Rescue Resource.

Sometime during the Christmas break I overheard Johnny talking to Pushkin as the cat lovingly greeted his old friend with his distinctive head butt. 'Hey so it's that time of day is it? When Push comes to Shove'. As I had laughed I remember watching Pushkin twist his head on one side in pleasure and repeat his head butt. It breaks my heart to now report that Push will no longer come to shove anyone anymore.

On the 19th of January I asked Emily, one of the local vets, to come and inject him. She was kind enough to sedate him first before giving him the heart-stopping drug and he died in my arms. He had lost a great deal of weight over Christmas and his blood tests showed that his creatinine and urea levels were all raised and on that final morning he was clearly visibly distressed. Michael helped me perform this awful act by saying that he was sure now the time was right. Now it would be cruel to keep him going on. After I had phoned the vet and made the arrangement for him to be put down Pushkin suddenly took it into his head to go out into the garden. He raised his head and wailed in his hight pitched almost girlie way, about five times in all. I wept for his distress. Did he know? Was it pain? Was it confusion? Perhaps all of these things.

I have nearly finished the first draft of the new children's cat book which is going to be called Magnificat and will be published in autumn 2012. France Bauduin is busy working on the illustrations now

Just to warn you I am getting very low on stock of the four books, especially More Cat Tales of which I have very few. For the moment plenty of copies of Number One, The Cats of Moon Cottage :-)

Pushkin is doing well. His renal failure is of course there, but his deterioration is slower than I had first feared. He has recently had some lumps and a polyp removed, which proved not to be cancerous and since then he has a renewed interest in life - out harrassing birds, and today he charged at a frog who happily got away,  but it was a joy to see.

Sales for White Chin are going well and Catnip have reprinted which is great news. I have been doing Year Six schools events around the North West of England and shortly my reports of all that took place in those schools will be up on the website! You were all brilliant I must say, and really kept me

It was back in July last year that Colette wrote me her first heartbroken email telling me that the love of her life, her beloved Sid, had had to be put down. What distressed her more than anything was that she felt she was in part to blame and she wanted me to issue a warning to other cat lovers about what she sees as the partial cause of his demise. So this tale has a message for all of us who own cats.

You have been very solicitous in your questions after all four but especially you have been asking about Pushkin. In general all four are doing well, but like us all, they are getting fed up with the long dreary winter. They especially hated the cold and snow in November and December, but these grey soggy days of January are not favourite either.