The Hundred and One Dalmatians
First edition cover
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| Author | Dodie Smith |
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| Illustrator | Janet and Anne Grahame Johnstone |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's novel |
| Publisher | Heinemann |
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Publication date
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1956 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Followed by | The Starlight Barking (1967) |
The Hundred and One Dalmatians, or the Great Dog Robbery is a 1956 children's novel by Dodie Smith about the kidnapping of a family of 101 Dalmatian dogs. A sequel, The Starlight Barking, continues from the end of the first novel.
At a dinner party attended by the Dearly couple, Cruella de Vil expresses her dislike for animals; subsequently, the couple's new Dalmatian puppies disappear. The Dearly dogs are now among 97 puppies who were kidnapped or legally purchased from various owners, with the intention of skinning them for their fur. Through the co-operation of animals and the "Twilight barking", the dogs are found in Suffolk, England, and a rescue ensues.
Pongo and Missis are a pair of Dalmatians who live with the newly married Mr. and Mrs. Dearly and their two nannies, Nanny Cook and Nanny Butler. Mr. Dearly is a "financial wizard" who has been granted lifelong tax exemption and lent a house on the Outer Circle in Regent's Park in return for wiping out the government debt. The dogs consider the humans their pets, but allow the humans to think that they are the owners.
Missis gives birth to a litter of 15 puppies. Concerned that Missis will not be able to feed them all, the humans join in to help. Mrs. Dearly looks for a canine wet nurse, and finds an abandoned liver-spotted Dalmatian in the middle of the road in the pouring rain. She has the dog treated by a vet and names her Perdita (meaning "lost"). Perdita later tells Pongo about her lost love Prince and the resulting litter of puppies which were sold by her owner, and that she had run away looking for those puppies.
Mr. and Mrs. Dearly attend a dinner party hosted by Cruella de Vil, an intimidating and very wealthy woman fixated on fur clothing. The Dearlys are disconcerted by her belief that all animals are worthless and should be drowned. Shortly after the dinner party, the puppies disappear. The humans fail to trace them but through the "Twilight Barking", a forum of communication in which dogs can relay messages to each other across the country, the dogs track them down to "Hell Hall", the ancestral home of the de Vil family in Suffolk. Pongo and Missis try to tell the Dearlys where the puppies are but fail: Pongo tried to say the human word "Suffolk" but could not hiss to make the necessary "s" sound. The dogs decide to run away and find the puppies, leaving Perdita to look after the Dearlys. After a journey across the countryside, they meet the Colonel, an Old English Sheepdog at Withermarsh in Suffolk; he shows them Hell Hall and tells them its history. They learn that there are 97 puppies in Hell Hall, including Pongo and Missis' own 15.
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