Cats & Daughters

Starred review from April 1, 2013
"The only thing more worrying than holding cats and daughters close is setting them free," observes Australian journalist and humorist Brown as she shares her experiences with breast cancer, a rebellious daughter, and a rambunctious cat. In this sequel to Cleo, told with unflinching candor and Aussie-tinged wit, Brown's breast cancer diagnosis and surgery coincide with her older daughter, Lydia, leaving for war-torn Sri Lanka to become a Buddhist nun. Meanwhile, a new cat enters Brown's life: a stunning, sapphire blue-eyed neurotic Siamese she names Jonah, whose behavioral baggage includes spraying, running away, and shredding carpet. Her life "ruled by a cat," Brown reprises her first book's theme: cats have the power to help heal human suffering. Brown's voice is alternately, and appropriately, lighthearted and solemn, her vulnerability evident as she struggles with breast cancer and Lydia's lifestyle; Jonah provides love, friendship and is the "istener, healer, the companion who never judged." In a beautiful moment of introspection during a visit to Sri Lanka, Brown understands the futility of holding onto daughters, recognizing that Lydia needs to live her life. Having courageously faced down fear, loss, mortality, and Sri Lanka, Brown realizes she has learned much along the way.

February 1, 2013
An intimate memoir about one woman and her relationships with her cat and her family. How do you deal with planning a wedding, being diagnosed with breast cancer and having a daughter who wants to become a Buddhist nun all at the same time? You get a high-strung, high-maintenance new kitten. Or at least this is how best-selling author Brown (Cleo: The Cat Who Mended a Family, 2010) coped with the stresses of her life. Amusing passages swirl among details of Brown confronting her illness: "Getting three surgeons to show up in the same operating room at the same time was like arranging for Lady Gaga, Angelina Jolie, and Queen Elizabeth II to attend the same charity event." Meanwhile, her daughter needed time and space to find her own identity in a Sri Lankan monastery. The author writes eloquently about the bonds that exist between women of all ages, as she crisscrosses the path between caretaker and needy patient. Woven in between are the antics of Jonah, the new kitten whose existence in the house was questioned from day one: "Jonah hesitated for a moment, as if considering the invitation," she writes. "But he narrowed his eyes and took flight like a trapeze artist, launching himself through the air to land on top of the kitchen dresser....What I hadn't counted on was a berserk kitten hurling himself on top of the upper cabinet. The glasses trembled ominously as he struggled to find his balance." The author amiably recounts the ups and downs of owning a cat and integrating the animal into her life. For cat lovers, a pleasant and moving story of love and identity among mothers, daughters and felines. Non-cat lovers need not apply.

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