Cat Lady: The hot, must-read Richard & Judy Book Club novel for summer 2023 from the Sunday Times bestselling author

Product Information

Cat lovers will rejoice in this tale of a woman who simply cannot, and maybe doesn’t want to, be tamed’ HEAT --This text refers to the hardcover edition. I haven't read a non-fictional book in years and somehow when I saw this book I decided to take the plunge not knowing if I was actually going to follow through and read it. Dawn O'Porter is a broadcaster and print journalist who lives in London with her husband Chris, cat Lilu and dog Potato.

She sleeps in a separate room from her husband and pencils in sex several times a week - she won't sleep with him because he doesn't want animals in their bed after a strange occurrence. Mia has been living in terms of what society expects from her, rather than what she wants in fear of judgement.I did find Mia quite relatable in some aspects (however, some things she did truly had me cringing and feeling disgusted). Nothing much happens in the first half, there’s a bit of awkward social commentary, and Mia reinforces every stereotype about people who love cats.

I think the only thing stopping this getting one star is that I flipping love cats and would absolutely lay down my life for mine - I am cat lady, so those segments where she just loves Pigeon so much got their hooks in me hard. So – a few pages in and I didn’t have high hopes – however, I did get more into the book as it went on and so am not going to be totally negative about it I promise! When a shocking event shatters the conventional life she's been so careful to build, Mia is faced with a choice. Also at one point Mia describes Tristan being confronted by Belinda’s lover because she was stalking him after he refused to leave his wife - but unless they got together straight away, she wouldn’t have been there surely? When the silent protagonist cat has more personality than literally all the characters in a 300+ page book, there’s a bit of an issue.I like to think I’ve got quite a varied sense of humour, and apparently this was “laugh out loud”, and maybe it is to some but hell no, not to me. A fancy house, a husband, a stepson, a fancy job with a jewellery company and best of all, a cat that she loves with all her heart. Dawn's journalism has appeared in multiple publications and she was the monthly columnist for Glamour magazine. Mia has made the best of her life after a difficult childhood: good job, nice house and a stable marriage.

Cat Lady follows Mia who starts attending a pet bereavement support group despite her cat being very much alive. I’m glad others did enjoy it and get benefit from it but for me this was just too far in what should have been a very heart wrenching story of falling to rock bottom and building yourself back up.She lives with her husband but his ex is there constantly so she’s seemingly constantly belittled by her.