The Cat Who Saved Books (Hon wo mamorou to suru neko no hanashi)

Originally published in 2017 as 本を守ろうとする猫の話 (Hon wo mamorou to suru neko no hanashi)

From the #1 bestselling author in Japan comes a celebration of books, cats, & the people who love them, infused with the heartwarming spirit of The Guest Cat and The Travelling Cat Chronicles.

Bookish high school student Rintaro Natsuki is about to close the secondhand bookstore he inherited from his beloved bookworm grandfather. Then, a talking cat appears with an unusual request. The feline asks for—or rather, demands—the teenager's help in saving books with him. The world is full of lonely books left unread & unloved, & the cat & Rintaro must liberate them from their neglectful owners.

Their mission sends this odd couple on an amazing journey, where they enter different mazes to set books free. Through their travels, the cat & Rintaro meet a man who leaves his books to perish on a bookshelf, an unwitting book torturer who cuts the pages of books into snippets to help people speed read, & a publishing drone who only wants to create bestsellers. Their adventures culminate in one final, unforgettable challenge—the last maze that awaits leads Rintaro down a realm only the bravest dare enter . . .

An enthralling tale of books, first love, fantasy, & an unusual friendship with a talking cat, The Cat Who Saved Books is a story for those for whom books are so much more than words on paper.

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Sosuke Natsukawa is the author of the prize-winning Kamisama No Karute (God’s Medical Records).

Louise Heal Kawai is a translator of Japanese literature based in Yokohama. She previously translated Seicho Matsumoto’s A Quiet Place for Bitter Lemon Press. She is the translator of a large number of other works in the mystery genre, including Seishi Yokomizo’s The Honjin Murders & Death on Gokumon Island, & Seventeen & The North Light by Hideo Yokoyama. Her translation of the fantasy novel The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa is now an international bestseller.