The Midnight Kittens by Dodie Smith

Trip Down Memory Lane #2

Gram thought of all the years she herself had smoked. She had given it up when she inherited the twins. ‘One cannot,’ she had once said, ‘puff smoke in a baby’s face.’

Lesser-Known Works

The idea came into my head a few weeks ago that I had to read The Midnight Kittens by Dodie Smith, urgently. It was just another of those feverish days when I’m trying to figure out what I’m writing, while I’m writing it. Stumbling upon a description of a book, I’ll become convinced it holds the key to my writerly turmoil.

It almost never does — indeed, it didn’t in this case. However, nothing wasted.

The Midnight Kittens wasn’t easy to find, not being one of the two novels most people think of when they hear the name Dodie Smith. Many readers who call her a favourite don’t know of its existence, though they can quote the first line of I Capture the Castle (yes I can) and may own a Cruella wig (yes I do).

The Midnight Kittens was the last novel Dodie published, in 1978, at the age of eighty-two.