Gizmo - The Cat With No Whiskers is published by Publish Nation

AS a child, Bill Lowe spent much of his summer holidays travelling around the country in a dilapidated old VW camper van with his eccentric Aunt Mary and her rather strange looking cat.

Each morning the intrepid trio would set off for a different destination. One place which young Bill would always be keen to stop off at was Bradford where his two young cousins lived and where Bill himself lived for part of his youth.

Originally from Edinburgh, Bill has fond memories of trips to Bradford with his Aunt Mary, where they would often treat themselves to cod and chips. The pair would take their fish supper back to the camper van, sharing it with aunt’s Devon Rex cat, an odd-looking creature with very little hair and an abundance of wrinkles.

Little did young Bill realise that these frequent forays to Bradford in the company of his aunt and this unusual cat would eventually lead to him acquiring his own Devon Rex.

Today Bill is 71 and divides his time between his two homes, one in the South of France and the other in southern Spain. A retired zoo curator, he set about writing a children's adventure, inspired by his cat, Gizmo, named after one of the characters in the film Gremlins. Gizmo soon came to follow in the footsteps of Bill’s aunt’s much-travelled cat.

Bill has written two humourous adventures, Gizmo - The Cat With No Whiskers and a sequel, Gizmo - The Cat Who Had French Lessons.

The books are delightfully witty and eccentric, for readers of all ages and especially sweet for cat lovers. Gizmo, says Bill, is a feline with heaps of attitude.

"As a kitten he was his mother’s favourite and he knew it!" says Bill, who writes in the cat's words.

"Bill began to tickle the folds of skin at the back of my neck. I started to purr. I couldn’t help myself. He obviously liked me - with or without my whiskers. And then he went and ruined it all by proclaiming that I had wrinkles," says the cat in Gizmo - The Cat With No Whiskers.

“Oh the cheek of it. He had to be 60 if he was a day. I gazed inquisitively into the lines on his face and instantly I knew which one of us it was that needed the wrinkle cream!”

In the book, Gizmo goes for walks with a truffle-hunting pig, gets sworn at by a foul-mouthed mynah bird and is cat-napped by a Fleet Street photographer.

The book features a rich cast of eccentric characters (both animal and human), including Rhea, a reluctant Romeo, and an old lady who insists on wearing a fur coat in the height of the summer.

Gizmo romps through the action-packed tale, causing mischief and mayhem.

In his second adventure, Gizmo - The Cat Who Had French Lessons, the cat travels further afield, getting into all manner of trouble when he boards a cross-channel ferry. He's chased up a tree by a bulldog, causes havoc while having his portrait painted, and gets abducted by a French fishmonger.

Readers will meet Bill’s extended Italian family, including a teenage grandson with more than a passing interest in Viagra, and Bill’s seven-year-old granddaughter who butchers Barbie dolls.

* Gizmo - The Cat With No Whiskers is available to download on Amazon.

Emma Clayton