Cat Lady: The hot, must-read Richard & Judy Book Club novel for summer 2023 from the Sunday Times bestselling author

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It got a little too wacky as Mia grows increasingly erratic, which makes for an odd tone when everything that happens is very sad and painful. I could relate to Mia's love for Pigeon and her wish to protect herself from just about every other living being. There were so many instances when reading when I was simply teetering between cringe, disbelief, and also shock at the standard of publishing. Mia is 45, and happily married (separate bedrooms), lives in a nice house (originally bought by her hubby and his first wife), is a great step mum (although the first wife/mother is always popping round); has a great job (she has to micromanage the gormless chief executive) and is in love (with her cat, 'Pigeon') and is pretty much living the ideal conventional life, but is this the life that Mia wants?

I think a lot of people worry about something happening to their fur babies, which obviously Mia really struggles with that. The part where the book officially lost me, I think, was when the main character's inner monologue went on this strange fantasy about how she wanted her cat to lick some sort of food off of her back, which was followed by her musing that she understood about the (theoretical) woman she'd heard about who let her dog lick her where dogs absolutely should not lick someone! There was constantly something happening to her and after each thing happened, I kept asking myself when something good would happen to Mia. Dawn is obsessed with vintage clothing and recently set up her own clothing label, BOB (she also has a bob…) --This text refers to the hardcover edition.Dawn's journalism has appeared in multiple publications and she was the monthly columnist for Glamour magazine. There were parts where I did find myself endeared to Mia, who despite working hard in her career and her personal life still feels out of place and never quite at peace apart from when it is just her and her beloved cat, Pigeon. I like to think I’ve got quite a varied sense of humour, and apparently this was “laugh out loud”, and maybe it is to some but hell no, not to me.

The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. Most of her life is under complete control but little bits are fraying around the edges and she's at risk.With the added complication of having her husband's ex-wife drop in unannounced, let me tell you, I would be insisting upon some strict boundaries. I appreciate Dawn’s honest and unflinching writing style when it comes to challenging female stereotypes, but for me this one wasn’t one of my favourites. Dawn O’Porter is the bestselling author of ‘The Cows’ and the Richard and Judy Book Club pick ‘So Lucky’ and her latest non-fiction title ‘Life in Pieces’ was also a Sunday Times bestseller. I liked that Mia does learn that her initial judgements on the people around her are shown to be shallow, and that everyone has their own problems happened in the behind the scenes, just as she does.

I have read most of Dawn O’Porter’s previous novels and love her witty and unapologetic awkwardness of her main characters. Dawn started out in TV production but quickly landed in front of the camera, making numerous documentaries that included immersive investigations of Polygamy, Size Zero, Childbirth, Free Love, Breast Cancer and the movie Dirty Dancing. Cat Lady follows Mia who starts attending a pet bereavement support group despite her cat being very much alive.

I've read reviews that said people laughed out loud at this - I was the opposite, I cried several times and found the whole story really sad. Fresh, funny and for anyone who’s ever felt astray, Cat Lady will help you belong – because a woman always lands on her feet.

Not something I think a lot of women would endure and I was overjoyed to see Mia handling her own with the woman’s snooty attitude.

I won't say anymore on the plot as presumably with the lack of synopsis the reader is supposed to go in blind, so I've put this under a spoiler just in case it spoils it for anyone. She has made thirteen documentaries about all sorts of things, including polygamy, childbirth, geishas, body image, breast cancer and even the movie DIRTY DANCING.