Doreen Tovey

Doreen Tovey (October 24, 1918 – January 13, 2008) was an English writer and cat lover. She was the author of more than a dozen books about the life she and her husband 'Charles' (real name René) shared with their Siamese cats and other animals in Somerset, England. The books have sold more than 150,000 copies in eight countries and many of them are still available and in print from publisher Summersdale.

She was president of the Siamese Cat Club, President of the West of England Cat Club and President of the RSPCA for North Somerset.

Doreen was born in Bristol on 24 October 1918. At this time a flu epidemic was raging and her mother died from this leaving her two-week-old daughter to be brought up by her grandmother, as her father, being an engineer, was away from home for long periods of time. It was this upbringing that introduced Doreen to a variety of pets, as her grandmother was an inveterate rescuer of anything in need. Together with her Aunt Louisa they shared a house with cats, dogs and an owl called Gladstone whose perch on the bathroom door dictated that the use of this room was a swift one as no heat could be kept inside with the continually open door. Doreen went to Grammar School and passed her matric (as it was called then), she would have loved to go to university but knew her grandmother could never have afforded it.

After a couple of boring jobs she joined Imperial Tobacco and was with them for many years. Starting as a typist, then a secretary and, when they discovered that she could write, in their public relations department. It was here that she met Rene, who was in the Accountants Department. They met on the staircase one day and six months later Rene went to war in the Royal Navy. Rene came home on leave and they were married in Bristol by special licence on a Monday afternoon and spent a two-day honeymoon on a farm and Rene went back to war. She spent most of the time Rene was away with her Aunt Louisa who made life quite fun for Doreen after the austerity of her Victorian grandmother, who loved her dearly but had set ideas how a young lady should be brought up.

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