There was a rickety gate in a wooden fence, that was the landlady’s side entrance and the tenants’ front gate. It had originally been a guesthouse of the old estate, where their landlady lived. The alleyway followed a twisting path between the extensive grounds of an old estate and the place they were renting. The opening chapter describes the house and its position on a little alleyway the couple called ‘Lightning Alley’ because of its frequent sharp turns that one sees in drawings of lightning blots – or, I imagine, of the one on Harry Potter’s forehead. It is a story of how a cat made itself at home with a couple in their thirties who lived in a small rented house in a quiet part of Tokyo. And there was a lot that struck chords with me. As a cat lover how could I resist this book? It is only short, 146 pages but it packs so much within those pages. It was the cover of The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide, translated by Eric Selland, that first caught my eye.
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