A Scattering of Cats

In a house high on a California hill, a young girl grows to adulthood in the shadow of the Great Depression. Inevitably, cats appear, and the interweaving of their lives with those of the family changes both cats and humans forever. As a family cat gives birth, the five-year-old watches, enthralled, but when her very own cat dies, Sandra must struggle with deep loss and the concept of death. Many years later, caring for her aging parents, aging cats, and an aging house, she and a battle-weary tomcat adopt one another, and her never-ending lessons in growing up continue. There is solace in the beauty of the hills and the sweep of the land, the tiny Siamese kittens, the toothless old cat with the operatic voice, and the laughable duck in the living room. A Scattering of Cats offers a comforting sense of place as it echoes our own struggles to grow. We share the laughter, the tears, and the respect for cats as fellow creatures with their own special kind of intelligence and inner life.