We're celebrating a milestone with this podcast, the 300th episode of The Joys of Binge Reading show. And it's wonderful to be able to share it with best-selling author Helen Brown. Helen is a good friend and a former colleague who is appearing on the show for the second time, so it's just like all the stars are aligned. She has a remarkable gift for creating stories readers love with a mix of memoir and imaginative fiction that crosses international boundaries. Hi, I'm your host, Jenny Wheeler, and this is the second to last episode of The Joys of Binge Reading, at least for the time being. We love having Helen here to share it with us. She talks about her latest book, Mickey, The Cat Who Helped Me Through Times Of Change. Those of you who know Helen's work, know that cats feature prominently. Her classic memoir Cleo, The Small Black Cat That Helped Heal A Family has sold over two million copies and been translated into 18 languages, sold in 42 countries. Mickey is another heart touching gem, a wistful coming of age true story about the transition from childhood to adolescence, and the small stray cat that helped guide the way. We'll get to Helen in just a moment. But before we do, I want to say a few words about the show. As I've indicated, both today and earlier I'm retiring it at least for a season, to pursue other things like writing my own books. Our Giveaway This Week With that in mind, our Giveaway this episode is Poppy's Dilemma, Book #1 in my latest series, The Sisters Of Barclay Square, set in Sydney in the late 1860s. Poppy Barclay's privileged life shatters when her father's investment company collapses amidst shocking allegations of fraud. Download for FREE DOWNLOAD E BOOK https://dl.bookfunnel.com/8qspkbukp3 Jilted by her fiancé, shunned by the elite, the beautiful heiress finds herself an outcast, her dreams of a perfect marriage in ruins. She's determined to fight back, but Poppy's quest for justice puts her up against tenacious journalists, Thomas Yates, who is bent on exposing the truth behind the Barclay’s disgrace. You can get a free copy of Poppy's Dilemma from the download link in the show notes for this episode on our website, the joys of binge reading.com. Here is the link to download: Alyssa Maxwell's Newport murder mysteries I'm halfway through the first draft of the second book, working title Posey’s Peril about Poppy's twin. And without the podcast to take up my time, I'm planning to finish it next month. As I foreshadowed, this will be our penultimate show. There will be one more episode, # 301, because I committed to featuring historical mystery author Alyssa Maxwell’s was latest book months ago, before I'd made the decision to give Binge Reading a rest, and we recorded the interview in April or May - quite some time ago. I'm going to stay true to that and do that last episode so it doesn't waste the effort of being interviewed on Alyssa's part. The show started in August, 2017, so we've been going for seven years straight, podcasting weekly for the first six years and fortnightly for nearly the last year. It's quite a load to carry, forever lining up new guests, reading their books, researching their careers, and then doing the technical work of sound and transcript editing for every episode. The technical side of it in particular has become tedious and time consuming, and ironically, I've had lots of problems getting this last show recorded. The reasons for that are too boring to go into, but suffice it to say that after 299 reasonably straightforward episodes, #300 has proven particularly difficult technically speaking. Technical issues sorted - at last! It's appropriate that I had to call in sound engineer Dan Cotton, who edited the show professionally for me for the first few years, to sort out the problems in this, our second to last show. There's a nice circularity about that for me. Thanks to everyone like Dan and Abe who recorded the intro we're still using, for their help and support, and warmest gratitude to all our listeners. We'd developed a creditable audience and I've met some wonderful people along the way. The show will be out there long after this ending. I'm in the process of uploading all of the audio onto YouTube podcasts, and it's on all of the major platforms. You'll still be able to find wonderful chats with favorite authors for a long time to come. That's enough said. Let's get to Helen. Links to items mentioned in this episode Previous Binge Reading episode featuring Helen: Oct, 2018 https://thejoysofbingereading.com/helen-browns-feline-adventures Books Helen is reading: David Brooks How To Know A Person – The Art of Seeing Others Deeply https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/112974860-how-to-know-a-person Prentis Hemphill, What It Takes To Heal – How Transforming Ourselves Can Change The World https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/195888446-what-it-takes-to-heal The Rest Is History by Dr Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook. https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/rest-is-history-9781526667748 Poetry Unbound:  Fifty Poems To Open Your World https://www.amazon.com/Poetry-Unbound-Poems-Open-World/dp/B0BCL3VW15 Trip to Romania for environmental research https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nicolae-Ceausescu Snow globing: Watch comedian Mae Martin explain it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE77WFTc8PI Where to find Helen online: Website: https://www.helenbrown.com.au/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Helen.Brown.International.Author/ Instagram:  @helenbrownauthor Hello, Helen. And welcome to the show. It's great to have you with us. Helen Brown: Oh, thank you very much, Jenny. It's lovely to be here. Jenny Wheeler: Look, this is our 300th episode, so it's really wonderful to be finishing it off, talking to you, an old friend. We’re talking about your latest book, Mickey, The Cat Who Helped Me Through Times Of Change. Tell us about Mickey.   (Ed note: Because of the aforementioned technical difficulties, this small intro was not recorded on the raw sound file – goodness knows why not!  Apologies.) Introducing Helen Brown author Helen Brown - International best selling memoirs Helen Brown: The inspiration for Mickey goes back to those Covid days. Jenny. I don't know how you went through them, but for me, I felt so isolated and disconnected from the world and I experienced a deep kind of loneliness. I never thought I was a particularly sociable person, but that feeling of disconnect was so strong, and I know people felt that all around the world. I was sitting in my study here in Melbourne feeling very isolated and alone, and I thought, oh my God, I haven't had this feeling for so long. But it's a little bit familiar and it reminded me of when I was 12-years-old, transitioning into adolescence, feeling as if I belonged nowhere, and wondering how on earth to go forwards. And at the same time, my father was a wonderful photographer and I have quite a few of his photos, his colour slides printed out and mounted on my walls here. And in that deep chasm of silence of those Covid months and years, his photos became more vibrant and more powerful, and they beamed into this room and the characters became more real than living characters. And I just thought, oh my goodness, I've got to write about these people. They're my friends again at this moment, mom and dad, and my sister and brother. Mickey rescued from gas works poison And then of course, I was reminded of my saviour at the time, who turned out to be a cat. My father was manager of the local gas works in New Plymouth where we lived. We were quite an eccentric family. Jenny, I don’t know if you've picked that up from the book. Jenny Wheeler: I have. Helen Brown: One day my father said, ‘would you like to come for a drive?’ And I thought, oh gosh, he’s never asked me for a drive, so I said yes. We jumped in the old blue gray Zephyr. It was pouring with rain and he drove me off to the gas work. I thought, ‘oh no, we are going back to dad's work. I'm just going to sit outside here in the car while he does something important. ‘ But no. He went in and came out carrying this cardboard box. He opened the door and put the box on my lap and he said, ‘take care of this, will you?’ And I lifted the lid of the box, looked inside, and a face looked up at me. The face of a three-month-old gray tabby. And in that moment, that kind of visceral moment of connection, I felt the presence of another soul and someone who could really help me through this difficult time. But... Helen's Mum hated cats..... Jenny Wheeler: Now, this is probably the first of many interactions that you've had with cats. We perhaps should mention now that you've done a number of other cat books, some of them have been international best sellers. But there was one other thing about this amazing family that you grew up with. Your mother didn't like cats? Helen Brown: No. She was a country person and she thought cats belonged in barns. To her, their only use was to catch rats. She didn't dislike animals. She quite respected dogs, but cats she did not like. As a result of this, when dad gifted me this scruffy tabby - the rest of his family had all been poisoned - we had a pact that I would have to hide the cat from mum, because mum was going through her own crises at the time. She was auditioning for The King and I and the local operatic society and mum took her theatrical life incredibly seriously. When she was auditioning for something we all knew we had to take a big step back and just hope to heaven that she got the part. So it was quite a good time to try and introduce a hidden cat into our crazy household, because she was so distracted. Jenny Wheeler: You mentioned this crazy household.