Amersham Author's book about rescue guinea pig’s adventures raising money for charity which helped him find new home

A guinea pig who defied the odds to survive is now the star of a children’s book which is raising funds for national pet charity Blue Cross.
Elizabeth Flinn and Charles the guinea pigElizabeth Flinn and Charles the guinea pig
Elizabeth Flinn and Charles the guinea pig

Charles the guinea pig stars as one of the main characters in the book ‘Adventurous Guinea Pigs Visit the Stone Age’ which was written by owner Elizabeth Flinn, 52, and her seven year old neighbour Isobel Gallagher.

Dr Flinn and Isobel, who live near Amersham, Buckinghamshire, wrote the book during lockdown last year, each writing alternate chapters and emailing them across the road to each other.

The book features Charles, who Elizabeth rehomed from Blue Cross Lewknor in 2017, and his former partner Hetty; as well as Isobel’s guinea pigs Sausage and Ginger.

The story begins when the four guinea pigs find a flying basket. The basket takes them to the Stone Age where they must outwit a sabre-soother tiger...twice, on their hunt for cave paintings. Will they ever find the basket and get home again?

Elizabeth, who has taught for 20 years and now teaches other teachers, said: “I don’t know where the idea for the book came from, I remember Isobel’s parents had mentioned she had guinea pigs, but suddenly, I had two chapters written and I sent these to Isobel to see if she wanted to help carry on the story… and off we went!

“Isobel came up with the story being set in the Stone Age and added details like the cave paintings as this is what they’d been learning about in school. Slowly but surely, we shared a chapter each and the book came together over the next couple of months.

“We enjoyed writing the story so much as we didn’t know what was coming next as we shared the story between us. Once finished we wanted to share it, so we decided to self-publish and that the profits from the sales would go to Blue Cross to help other guinea pigs like Charles and other pets in their care.”

Speaking about her guinea pigs, Elizabeth said: “Charles has overcome some serious health problems. He had an internal abscess which we thought would kill him, but he has made a full recovery on his own – he’s my miracle boy. Sadly Hetty passed away but Charles is quite the ladies man and has settled into life with his new companion Radish.

“They’ve been great companions during lockdown and I’ve been known to read the book out loud to them while it was coming along.

“The routine of looking after them just provides an order to my day. I get a chorus in the morning when they shout at me for their food. They need cleaning out and then have a run

Elizabeth also shared the book with a friend's class last summer and Isobel read part of the story to her own class once schools reopened in September.

“It was really interesting to get feedback on the book from children too. They loved the guinea pigs' different characters and many had a favourite. It has also been an opportunity to teach the children about rehoming pets. They were horrified that Hetty had struggled to get a new home due to the fact the she had a wonky, tatty ear and were interested to hear about the care guinea pigs need and how charities like Blue Cross help pets whose owner can no longer look after them. I’d like to think they have learned a little bit more about the responsibilities that come with owning a guinea pig.”

The book, which has so far raised more than £100 for Blue Cross, is available from www.thecraftydodo.co.uk