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Paw Prints In the Moonlight: Book Review & Giveaway

September 16, 2012 / 29 Comments
If you love cats, sharing makes us purrrr :-)

paw prints in the moonlight-denis o'connor-book-review-cats-layla morgan wilde

It’s been a long while since a nonfiction book about a cat captivated me as much as Paw Prints in the Moonlight: The Heartwarming True Story of One Man and his Cat by Denis O’Connor. The author, a retired psychologist recounts his life as single, young professor living in a charming, stone cottage in rural Northumberland, England. The only thing missing from his idyllic country life is a cat. Originally published in 2009 as Paw Tracks in the Moonlight: The Story of Toby Jug, a Very Fine Cat (a best seller in the U.K.), the book is being re-issued in the U.S. as Paw Prints in the Moonlight and slated to be published in October, 2012 by Thomas Dunne Books with a new cover.

Cats have a way of finding us and one snowy winter day Denis O’Connor rescues a bedraggled cat caught in a leg-hold trap. He tracks the bleeding cat across snowy fields to an abandoned barn and her two dying three-week-old kittens. In a heroic effort, he manages to drag all of them to a vet. It’s not a happy ending and against the vet’s advice, Denis places the mewling and ill survivor in his pocket to begin the adventures of one cat lover and his extraordinary cat he names Toby Jug.

With no place to keep the kitten safe and warm, the inventive author keeps the kitten in a large, glass pitcher filled with cotton balls. That’s only the beginning of this quirky tale. Cat and owner are inseparable from day one with Toby Jug riding on the author’s shoulders wherever he goes.

Paw Prints in the Moonlight-illustration-toby jug-cat-book

Cats often come into our lives as teachers and Toby Jug changed the author’s life forever. The riveting story of surviving against all odds, profound love of a human-animal bond reads like the best page-turning fiction. The dozen full-color illustrations by Richard Morris brings the story fully alive. I was so mesmerized by the charismatic Toby Jug and his escapades and misadventures, I was unprepared for the ending with a supernatural twist that left me teary-eyed and yet hopeless This heart-warming, wry and wise book is destined to become classic in any cat lover’s library.

If we could give it a 5 Paw Rating we would but we have a max of 4 Paws. If you’d like to win a copy, simply leave a comment anytime at this post until 11:59PM EST Sept. 22, 2012. Good luck!

The publisher sent me a copy and in no way influenced my review.

In a remarkable aside, the author sold Owl Cottage and twenty years later, married and with two new cats, finds his old cottage for sale and buys it. Not surprisingly, the author wrote a sequel titled Paw Tracks at Owl Cottage which I’m eager to get my paws on.

The winner of last week’s fun book giveaway We’re All Different But We’re All Kitty Cats is Melinda England. Congratulations! Look for an email from Layla and Cat Wisdom 101.

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