The Travelling Cat Chronicles

Nana is a proud, sharp-tongued street cat who has settled into a comfortable life with Satoru, the gentle young man who took him in. So when Satoru announces that they are going on a road trip in his silver van, Nana is happy enough to ride along — even if he doesn't understand why they are visiting a series of Satoru's old friends, or why Satoru seems to be quietly hoping each of them might take Nana in.

As the pair travel the length of Japan, from city streets to the sea to the slopes of Mount Fuji, the friends they visit unlock episodes from Satoru's past: childhood, school, first loves, and losses. Nana, narrating much of the story with dry feline superiority, slowly pieces together the real purpose of their journey, and the depth of the bond between a man and the cat who chose him.

Hiro Arikawa's international bestseller is a tender, gently humorous novel about friendship, gratitude, and mortality. Translated from the Japanese, The Travelling Cat Chronicles builds quietly toward an emotional conclusion, finding enormous feeling in small kindnesses and the ordinary business of a life shared with an animal.