The Coziest Book I've Read All Year: a review of The Ghost Cat

A little bit about me: I adore Scotland, and, in particular, the city of Edinburgh. Also, as we are just finished with the coziest time of year, Christmastime, it is as good a time as any to review the coziest book I have read all year: The Ghost Cat by Alex Howard.

The Ghost Cat was on my radar as an upcoming release. Then, in October, I found myself in a Topping and Company bookstore in Edinburgh, Scotland, where I found a signed edition of the very book!

It did not take me long to start the book, and subsequently did not take me long to finish it. It is a quick and wholesome read; sweet, funny, and excessively kind. Also, highly accurate to what cats are like in real life.

The Ghost Cat is the story of, well, a cat that is a ghost. Grimalkin spends his nine ghost "lives" haunting the home he lived in during his life. He was a foundling, taken in by a young girl who serves as a maid in 7/7 Marchmont Crescent. The story begins in 1902, and ends in 2022. It is very much a "day in the life" type of story, with not much of an over-arching plot. The primary driver for the story is a cat observing the changing times of history, and the changing lives of the people he knows and loves.

We see Grimalkin experience the roaring twenties, WWII, and the 2008 financial crisis, among other historical events. But the best part of the story is the people he observes along the way, both as he observes their lives as they mirror the goings-on around them and as they wrestle with their own personal dilemmas, joys, hopes, and dreams. This includes Eilidh, his owner during his lifetime.

If you need a cozy read, or a palate-cleansing story, then I would highly recommend The Ghost Cat. It is the epitome of coziness, while also providing a fun and accessible history lesson of the city of Edinburgh through the ages. Also, it's a cat, and the author must be a cat owner because I have never read a more cat-like cat.

I hope you have had a very Merry Christmas, and I hope that you have a most wonderful new year. Thank you for your support of me and my little blog. I have been having a grand time writing and sharing my thoughts with you, and I hope you will continue to follow along with me in the future!