The Goodbye Cat (Hiro Arikawa)

A Times Biggest Book for the autumn - this Japanese bestseller is a joyous celebration of cats and how we cannot resist sharing our lives with them.

Against changing seasons in Japan, seven cats weave their way through their owners' lives.

- A needy kitten rescued from the recycling bin teaches a new father how to parent his own human baby
- An elderly cat hatches a plan to pass into the next world as a spirit so that he and his owner may be together for ever
- A colony of wild cats on a holiday island shows a young boy not to stand in nature's way
- A family is perplexed by their cat's devotion to their charismatic but uncaring father
- A woman curses how her cat constantly visits her at night

Bursting with empathy and love, THE GOODBYE CAT explores the unstoppable cycle of life as we see how the steadiness and devotion of a well-loved cat never lets us down.