Laura Testaverde Books

THE SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER.A couple in their thirties live in a small rented cottage in a quiet part of Tokyo. They work at home as freelance writers. They no longer have very much to say to one another. One day a cat invites itself into their small kitchen. She is a beautiful creature. She leaves, but the next day comes again, and then again and again. New, small joys accompany the cat; the days have more light and colour. Life suddenly seems to have more promise for the husband and wife; they go walking together, talk and share stories of the cat and its little ways, play in the nearby Garden. But then something happens that will change everything again.The Guest Cat is an exceptionally moving and beautiful novel about the nature of life and the way it feels to live it. Written by Japanese poet and novelist Takashi Hiraide, the book won Japan's Kiyama Shohei Literary Award, and was a bestseller in France and America.

"The nightmare no parent could endure. The case no detective could solve. The twist no reader could predict. For five days in January 1989, the parents of a seven-year-old Tokyo schoolgirl sat and listened to the demands of their daughter's kidnapper. They would never learn his identity. They would never see their daughter again. For the fourteen years that followed, the Japanese public listened to the police's apologies. They would never forget the botched investigation that became known as Six Four. They would never forgive the authorities for their failure. For one week in late 2002, the press officer attached to the police department in question confronted an anomaly in the case. He could never imagine what he would uncover. He would never have looked if he'd known what he would find."-- Provided by publisher

Noriko vive una vita tranquilla, ma è bloccata in una palude di tristezza mascherata da abitudine. A cinquant'anni, la sua scrittura è ferma da mesi e nulla sembra andare per il verso giusto. In cerca di una svolta, visita un santuario shintoista e sussurra: «Dammi la felicità». Il giorno seguente, vicino al ceppo della magnolia piantata dal padre, scopre una gatta randagia che sta partorendo. Nessuno nel vicinato vuole prendersi cura dei gattini, e così inizia la convivenza di Noriko con questi piccoli animali, che porteranno un grande cambiamento nella sua vita, nonostante la sua avversione per i gatti. Il diario delle sue giornate con i felini diventa un viaggio di incontri speciali e scoperte su se stessa, la vita e la felicità. La delicatezza e la bellezza dell'opera di Morishita Noriko risiedono nella capacità di raccontare, attraverso i piccoli e grandi cambiamenti quotidiani, una storia di cose semplici e familiari, trasformandola in un racconto universale che conquista lettori in tutto il mondo.