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Reviewed by The Book Review Service (Moorhen Publishing) |
"Funny, moving, beguiling – this book is a refreshing delight!" |
This is a delightful little book. More a novella than a novel, it is nevertheless a satisfying read. |
Tormented by his conviction that he was responsible for a fatal family accident the guilt-ridden central character has also suffered a breakdown in his marriage. He lives an increasingly isolated existence made bearable by a combination of drink and the recently discovered joys of the nonsense verse of Edward Lear. |
Into this existence strolls a cat, in the way that cats often do. But this is no ordinary cat. One evening, having endured his new owner's loud rendition of a Lear verse, the cat strikes up a conversation. The garrulous cat then leads his new owner into a number of escapades that result in embarrassingly frequent contact with the local vet and police force. |
Does the cat really talk? Is it the drink talking? Maybe incipient mental illness is to blame. Whatever the reality, the story moves to a conclusion that left this reader satisfied. |
It was only after I'd finished the book that I realised that the central character is never referred to by name. That is an interesting device and helps in the creation of the feeling of loneliness: there is no one there to use his name. |
Val Harris is clearly an astute observer of both people and cats. The book is written with a reader-friendly clarity and the text is broken into short scenes so that I was constantly tempted not to put the book down, but to read just to the next scene break – and so it went on. |
Books reviewed by The Book Review Service
provided by Moorhen Publishing. |
Published by GingerCat Books
Second Edition (Paperback) ISBN 978-0-9555997-3-6
Third Edition (Amazon Kindle) ISBN 978-0-9555997-9-8 |
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