I got this fair-condition ex-library hardcover from Better World Books. It's about a cat who, after losing her fudoki - "self and soul and home and shrine... the chronicle of the females who have claimed a place, a river of cats that starts with the first to come to that place and ends with oneself" - finds herself transformed into a human. (The description of the fudoki, both the physical home and the family tree, and of the fire that destroyed it, made for a heart-wrenching beginning.)

The story is told by an aging noblewoman, and whether it's meant as a fable or fact - or an autobiography - is up to the reader. The shifts between scenes of the narrator's life, from a carefree young girl to a custom-bound empress, and those of the cat-turned-maiden, weave an intriguing story, and show many aspects of society in that era.

There's more tragedy in store for both characters (if they are in fact different), loves and losses, war and suffering, yet they endure. And the narrator writes - she fills notebook after notebook, each with a different name ("bamboo-paper notebook", "kihada-dyed notebook"). And at the end, she burns them all: "I wrote them for my own reasons. When their job was done, I burned them, converting ink on paper to the loose calligraphy of smoke."

Unusual story, poignant and entrancing.

I'm putting this book in the Asian-themed bookbox, which will be on its way to its first stop soon. [See the forum post for mailing order.] Hope someone enjoys it!

The cat's purr is a rattle,

a reversion of events
that bristle like fur.