”Just when the world seems to have lost touch with its humanity, along come two fur-balls, Negrito and Ensueño. Sullivan decodes the antics of her cats, gifting us with a beautifully crafted exploration of our bond with the feline kingdom, from the ancient land of pyramids and mummified cats to FBI kittens trained as spies. Whimsical, at times profound, a reflection of what it is to be a cat in order to be reminded what it is to be human.
Roxana Spicerauthor of Canadian best seller The Traitor's Daughter
Meet Negrito
Meaning: Little Black One
Born: 2006
He was perfectly black with long silky hair and huge green eyes —like full moons (which is when he was at his best.) A big cat, afraid of nothing and always up for adventure, he moved with the swagger of the top cat in the neighbourhood. He was very vocal and carried on long, one-sided conversations with the confidence that every word was significant, no matter to whom his voice was directed. He succumbed to kidney failure at the age of fourteen but not before giving the humans with whom he shared his life a long cat kiss.
Meet Ensueño
Meaning: Waking Dreams
Born: 2006
He was nothing less than regal. He was the figurehead of the neighbourhood —white hair as soft as a mink stole, with veins of grey and black. He was always impeccably coiffed and generally would rather be admired than held. A loner, he gave the impression he was contemplating the world with his huge black eyes. His loyalty to his immediate human family kingdom was explicit, preferring them to his own kind. He passed with dignity when he was seventeen.
Five Questions with Rosemary Sullivan
- Why did you write FIERCE ATTACHMENTS: A LIFE WITH CATS?
After losing the first of my two beloved cats, losing the second was very hard. I wrote Fierce Attachments as a kind of in memoriam to celebrate them. I wanted to write their biographies, using the biographer’s tools to place them in essential moments in their lives which were so entwined with ours. They had distinctive personalities and lived separate, amusing escapades. When my sister Colleen joined me as the illustrator for the book, the project became very special. Each time one of her beautiful cats arrived in an email, it added a richer dimension to Fierce Attachments. Not everyone gets to work with their sister. - What was an important moment in your cats’ lives that you wanted to write about?
I suppose the moment they came to us. In 2006, a friend phoned to say his friend’s house had caught fire. Their cat lived in the basement. They watched as the cat crawled through a basement window carrying her kitten in her mouth and deposited it at a safe distance. She went back into the fire five more times saving each of her kittens. She died of smoke inhalation. Our friend asked if we could give a home to two of her babies. We said yes. - Do you really think cats have distinct personalities?
Negrito (little black one) was a very large cat with silky soft long black hair. He was the adventurer, taking risks to the degree that he broke his leg. He bossed everyone around and visitors had to have his approval. Ensueno (meaning waking dreams, he was that beautiful) was contemplative, didn’t like people much, and hung out with me in my studio, often curling around my computer keyboard. Friends said he wrote my books. - Some people say dogs are loyal, while cats are indifferent to humans. Do you think this?
The loyalty and energy of dogs, their devotion to humans is remarkable. By contrast people say cats are diffident. I disagree. Cats are crepuscular, mysterious; like humans, they are sometimes in their own world, sometimes in yours. But getting a cat kiss, when a cat holds your attention and slowly blinks, or when a cat curls around your head at night or sits vigil at the end of your bed, is all the affection you need. - Do you have last thoughts about Fierce Attachments?
One of the things that happens when you have a pet, any pet, is that you’re reminded how compelling and intelligent animals are. But it’s hard not to wonder why we have such affection for our domestic animals and yet, are increasingly alienated from nature. We must recognize that we are not the center of the universe; we are players in a much bigger drama. I think the animals we love can lead us back to Nature which we are destroying. If only we would listen to them and speak their language.
About the Artist
Colleen Sullivan is a Design and Fine Arts graduate of Concordia University in Montreal. She has worked in Canada, the U.K., and the U.S. In tandem with a career in graphic design, Sullivan is an accomplished printmaker, painter, and illustrator of several children’s books. Her work focuses on the bold use of dramatic gestures and expressive imagery. An Award of Excellence recipient from the California State Fair, she is represented in public and private collections in the U.S. and Canada and has shown her work internationally in North America, Europe and Asia. Her art studio is located on Vancouver Island.
