Once a rescue cat, Fidel is now living the dream.

He has found a loving home with a devoted family and may soon become a minor celebrity thanks to Jackie Stevenson’s book, Fidel: A Bermuda Cat.

After taking him in as a foster pet from the SPCA, she was thrilled to see his personality emerge as he grew increasingly comfortable with her and her husband, Jay Kempe.

“He was the product of a wild cat and he was very maladjusted on his own,” she said. “He was under the couch for a couple of weeks before he finally came out.”

The idea for a book came as Ms Stevenson arrived home and spotted Fidel watching her from the roof, “legs akimbo, under a sky full of stars”.

“His expression was, ‘Where have you been? This is the place to be.’ And indeed he was right. Our animal friends can teach us a lot about enjoying the moment,” she wrote in the forward to the book.

Fuelled, she set to work writing and drawing.

“I just talk about him and his whole persona, and what a good life he has. He's very spoilt. He has meals on time and regular naps. He sleeps most of the day but at night he comes out and is on the prowl hunting for toads and crabs – whatever's out there,” she said.

“There’s an illustration of a couple in bed asleep with their masks and their nightcaps on, and him on the window sill, and then finally one of him with just the Bermuda roofline and a beautiful sky with stars and him up there just enjoying his beautiful island home. It's kind of whimsical, it’s very simple, but I enjoyed doing it.”

As with Bermuda Unwrapped, the illustrated novella she published in 2023 about the island's history, she was certain from the outset that she wanted Fidel: A Bermuda Cat to be printed locally.

“If I’d gone through the regular printing way it would have been very expensive but we managed to cut costs by printing it off almost like [they do with] annual reports. It's kind of the same format.”

Ms Stevenson, a former journalist who returned to school in the early 2000s to earn an associate’s degree in art and design, found creating the book an easy task.

“When I did Bermuda Unwrapped I initially just did a little scribbled drawing of the actual book. It was percolating for a few years and then when I actually got down to writing, it was very, very quick,” she said.

Ms Stevenson is grateful for the advice she received from Peter Marsh of Print Link, who guided her in creating a book similar to the way many of her writer friends were publishing through Amazon.

“They're very precise about everything. There’s a bit of a learning curve in knowing how to fit into their format but once you've got it, they will provide the illustrations and they come up with a print. You just provide the content and then you've got your book on the Amazon site.”

Being an illustrator in her own right, Ms Stevenson felt it was not an option for her. As well, the local printer allowed her to be “much more hands on”, which she found quite “satisfying”.

“I was also quite proud of the fact that Bermuda Unwrapped was printed here in Bermuda – I didn't go to China or somewhere.”

As she had done it once already, she knew what she was in for when she decided to move forward with Fidel: A Bermuda Cat.

“Because it is [done similar to the Amazon style], it didn't take that long, probably from September to November, for me to actually put it all together and print,” she said.

“I didn't print too many copies. I thought, ‘Let’s just see how it goes.’”

Fidel, a nine-year-old smoky grey cat with “piercing eyes”, provided plenty of inspiration.

“He's obviously got some pedigree in him because he's got very long fur,” Ms Stevenson said. “He’s such a cool cat. He's a real gentleman’s cat but he's still got a very wild element in him in that he doesn't sit on your lap and get cuddles. He’s his own man.”

It’s evident in the way he has taken over her household, the author added.

“He really is the owner of this area; he knows everything that's going on. You don't see him, he just moves in the shadows. Suddenly he will appear at the window, staring in at you.”

• Fidel: A Bermuda Cat is available at Bermuda Book Store, Tabs and the Hamilton Princess & Beach Club