Cat Lady: The Sunday Times bestseller and the latest funny, brilliant and bold fiction novel for 2023 from the author of So Lucky

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Writing style Love Untold has a plot, but its real joy is in how Jones digs her fingernails into decades of complicated family history. The risk here would be to boil down at least one of the generations to stereotype, but Jones fiercely resists this. These are four complicated, singular women on their own paths and the story comes entirely from watching them rub against each other. It is stridently confident when it comes to hitting you around the head with sentiment until you relent and start crying, too. Jones could write books like this for the rest of her life and they’d all be brilliant. I loved seeing Mia grow into her confidence, and allow herself to be who she truly is beneath all the facades she shows everyone. Finally allowing space for those she loves to get close to her, and coming to terms with her past, whilst not letting it define her or suffocate her anymore. It was a truly empowering story, she has a lot of strength and bravery in her, and it was beautiful to see her finally flourishing.

Member Reviews | NetGalley

Dawn O’Porter is an author, director, broadcaster, and co-founder of the charity Choose Love. Known for her investigative journalism, Dawn first made a name for herself in front of the camera in her 2007 BBC documentary Super Slim Me. Since then, she’s presented several documentaries covering everything from attitudes to pregnancy and childbirth to polyamory in the USA and breast cancer. In 2014, Dawn hosted This Old Thing, a Channel 4 series she co-produced exploring vintage clothing that she later adapted into a book. Main character Technically, the Thursday Murder Club are an ensemble – Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim – but the leader is arguably Elizabeth, an ex-spy and primary carer for her husband, who has dementia. It was in LA that I met my now husband, Chris. Lilu puked on his side of the bed the night after he stayed over for the first time. She could be terrible and full of vitriol when she thought my attention might be taken from her. It was a sketchy start to their relationship, but they worked it out. I’d go as far to say they loved each other deeply. Plot A story told over four generations of Welsh women – an unstoppable pensioner, her estranged daughter, her abandoned daughter, and then her daughter – written by the actor and Gavin and Stacey co-creator Ruth Jones. Can these women heal the complex wounds that drove them apart? Main character Sally, a woman who gleefully rediscovers her can-do attitude when all the unnecessary peripherals start to fall away.Next came a dog, then two children. Despite being a difficult old bag, she welcomed them all with love. Labouring with me as I prepared to leave for hospital with my first, then sitting quietly on the floor as I delivered our second at home on our bed. The midwife said she’d never known an animal to be so well behaved during a birth. I was as proud of her as I was my beautiful baby boy. When he was out and things were quiet, she jumped up and sat on my legs, where she remained almost constantly as I breastfed and watched terrible TV for the next few months. Mia has made all the right choices. She’s married, she has the nice house, the good career. But life isn’t about fitting into a box. And there’s another woman inside her who’s just clawing to get out . . . Plot Sally Parker is the bored wife of an elaborately rich hedge fund manager. She has a full-time nanny, a chef and someone to groom her dogs. But when her husband suddenly goes bankrupt, all this is whipped away from her and she can start to find herself again. This debut novel comes from the comedian and former Bake Off co-host Mel Giedroyc, one half of Mel and Sue. Main character Gary, a man with a job that Mortimer used to have, in the same location where Mortimer used to work. He also has the exact same cadence, vocabulary and thought processes as Mortimer, as seen in his long digressions about pies. That said, Gary is described as having a slightly larger nose than Mortimer, so they are definitely different people. Who should buy this book? If I had to guess, I’d say every single woman who owns a cat will have this pressed into her hands over the next few months.

Cat Lady (Audio Download): Dawn O’Porter, Daisy Haggard Cat Lady (Audio Download): Dawn O’Porter, Daisy Haggard

Writing style This is a book about a woman who essentially devolves (or evolves, as it would like us all to think) into an animal, which makes it a slightly less high-minded version of Paula Cocozza’s novel How to Be Human. It rips along at a decent clip and, even though O’Porter now lives in Los Angeles, does a very good job of depicting the empty aspirational scuzz of the London creative scene. In fact, this is where it thrives. The chapters about Mia’s awful workplace are much more compelling than the ones where she stops washing and pretends to be a cat. Now, we love a bit of sparkle at JCHQ, but we don’t love how they’re made or when they are found at the bottom of the ocean twenty years later. We’ve taken the stance that until a sustainable version is widely available at our price point, we’ll sit out of the sequin game. We’ve worked closely with our suppliers to find or develop more sustainable options using recycled fibres and prints that shed far fewer microplastics (remember to wash in a mesh bag to capture even more!), which means we can sparkle without leaving a trail of glitter behind.Main character The story is told from the perspective of all four characters, although the main one is Grace, a woman approaching her 90th birthday with the same energy that most approach their 30th. We meet her on a beach, snapping at a patronising do-gooder, and things progress from there. Here I am, four years old and getting my photo taken at primary school. I look quite miserable, probably because I wanted attention all the time, but got quite shy when someone actually gave it to me.

Cat Lady – HarperCollins Publishers UK

Life was dreamy for her until the rare occasion that I had to return home to the UK. So I left her with a friend who rented the flat while I was away for a few months. What felt like a good plan where she got reduced rent, but had to look after the cat, was a total disaster. They didn’t get on. My friend couldn’t cope with Lilu’s Siamese dramas and the way she’d wail through the night because she’d been abandoned by her mother. It was made quite clear that the deal was off, and so Lilu was put on a plane to London, where we ran into each other’s arms like long-distance lovers finally reunited in a terrible romcom. It was then that I made a pact with her: if I go, you come, too. I kept my word.

Member Reviews

Dawn O’Porter challenges the stereotypes of the typical ‘cat lady’ with this beautiful and emotional read’ Reader review⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ An ode to finding your people and a celebration of the small things that bring us together’ Emma Gannon Cover quote “His grasp of human loneliness and longing is beautiful and comforting” – Marian Keyes (again).