Lili Hayward

Author. Musings on books, history and cats. In no particular order.

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Beautiful pieces by Hishisa Shunsō

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Mood board for The Cat of Yule Cottage. If you’re a fan of folklore, ancient spirits, cottages in the woods, log fires, mysterious standing stones, history, winter, pagan festivals, stories about the land, Cornish myths and legends, writing and of course cats, then The Cat of Yule Cottage will be the book for you. :)

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-cat-of-yule-cottage/lili-hayward/9781473648333

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cat-Yule-Cottage-Magical-Christmas/dp/1473648335/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

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Looking for a cosy, festive story to curl up with on Christmas Eve? The Cat of Yule Cottage has magic, mystery, romance, the Yuletide, snow, an ancient Cornish cottage, and of course... cats.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cat-Yule-Cottage-Magical-Christmas-ebook/dp/B01HD3F9YS/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Illustration by the talented Tatum Flynn.

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Cats in Myth & Folklore II - Katzenworld

I couldn’t fit even a fraction of some of the fascinating folktales about cats into my last post, so here’s a second helping! In the UK alone there are dozens of superstitions about cats. In… More

Here I am over at the lovely Katzenworld talking about a few of my favourite, unusual cat folktales! #cats #folktales #mythology #maneki-neko #welsh #japanese

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Winter at Tintern Abbey

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Reinstein 2017

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Strawberry haul from the #allotment before the rain #homegrown #strawberries

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St. Agnes, Cornwall, England

by Glenn Dowty

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A cosy winter trip to Cornwall

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Mini Cornish Book Tour!

So I’m very excited to announce that next weekend I’ll be taking a jaunt around the South West on a mini Devon and Cornwall Book Tour! I’ll be in the following places, signing copies of The Cat of Yule Cottage, eating pasties, and generally soaking up the pre-Christmas Cornish vibes.

Thursday 8th December:

6.30pm: Waterstones, Exeter Roman Gate

I’ll be at the Roman Gate store as part of their Christmas late-night shopping event, signing copies of The Cat of Yule Cottage and collecting for Cats Protection. Expect carol singers, mince pies and other festive treats!

Friday 9th December

2pm: Falmouth Bookseller

I’ll be in store at the wonderful Falmouth Bookseller, signing copies.

Saturday 10th December:

11am: Waterstones, Truro

I’ll be kicking off the day signing stock at Waterstones in Truro.

1.30pm: Padstow Bookseller

I’ll then be skipping up to Padstow to sign some stock there.

3.30pm: St Ives Bookseller

And will be finishing the day at St Ives Bookseller. Phew!

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The Cat of Yule Cottage: Out Now!

It seems like yesterday that I was copy editing the MS of The Cat of Yule Cottage; the bright sun was streaming through the windows, I was wearing shorts, planning a late summer evening out in the garden, and it felt like it would never be winter again. But the months have slipped away, and I can’t quite believe it, but the publication date is finally here!

Even as I write, another dark, chilly evening is creeping towards a frosty winter morning, bringing us - leap by step - towards the Yuletide and the end of the year.

I know this has been a year that many people will be grateful to see the back of. I hope that we’ll look towards the next with clearer minds and sharper thoughts, with bravery, empathy and more questions than ever.

But for the end of this year, I also have to say thank you; thank you to everyone at Hodder for bringing this book to life. Thank you to my family, who are always there to lend an ear. Thank you to my friends, my partner, for understanding when I disappear for a while into a made-up world. Thank you to my cats, for choosing to make their home with us!

And finally, essentially, thank you to readers, past, present and future. You make all of this possible.

Lili x

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Meet the Wonderful and Hard-Working Shop Cats of New York

New York cats aren’t just in bodegas, they work all over the city.

Bodega cats are having a moment. It all started when a Yelp user slammed a New York City corner store for having a feline who adores napping on beer cases inside the business, leading to outrage across the internet. A staple in many bodegas across the city, these cats are often beloved by customers and help the stores keep vermin out. Now there’s even a petition to make these local feline heroes officially legal. But in New York, it’s not just bodegas that staff cats. All kinds of business establishments across the city’s five boroughs have opened their doors to resident kitties, who usually become the favorite employees. Tamar Arslanian has collected the stories of many of N.Y.C.’s working cats for the book Shop Cats of New York, which features stunning photos of the subjects from Andrew Marttila. 

Shop Cats of New York on Amazon

Via People

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photo PJ

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Winter beauty

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It's official! The Cat of Yule Cottage is out in paperback this week. (Thursday 17th). Meanwhile, the ebook is only 99p over here! https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cat-Yule-Cottage-Magical-Christmas-ebook/dp/B01HD3F9YS/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1479112935&sr=8-3

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Autumn in a Cornish cottage. Bright, crisp mornings. Bringing in logs from an ancient stone barn for the fire, everything green with ivy and moss, ochre with lichen. Bats seeking warmth, spiders' webs decorating the corners. A stone that has marked the edge of the valley since the 14th century...

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The Cat of Yule Cottage out today in ebook! (Paperback in 2 weeks). Giggy is excited. You can win a copy here: http://fal.cn/Enex

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Hey look! Hodder are giving away copies of The Cat of Yule Cottage? Want one? http://fal.cn/Enex #christmas #cat #giveaway #book #blackcat