Cleo

Book excerpt: Helen Brown wasn't a cat person, but her nine-year-old son Sam was. So when Sam heard a woman telling his mum that her cat had just had kittens, Sam pleaded to go and see them. Helens heart melted as Sam held one of the kittens in his hands with a look of total adoration. In a trice the deal was done - the kitten would be delivered when she was big enough to leave her mother. A week later, Sam was run over and killed. And not long after, a little black kitten was delivered to the grieving family. Totally traumatised by Sams death, Helen had forgotten all about the new arrival. After all, that was back in another universe when Sam was alive. Helen was ready to send the kitten back, but Sams younger brother, Rob, wanted to keep her, identifying with the tiny black kitten whod also lost her brothers. When Rob stroked her fur, it was the first time Helen had seen him smile since Sams death. There was no choice: the kitten - dubbed Cleo - had to stay. Kitten or not, there seemed no hope of becoming a normal family again. But Cleos zest for life slowly taught the traumatised family to laugh. She went on to become the uppity high priestess of Helens household, vetoing her new men, terrifying visiting dogs and building a special bond with Rob, his sister Lydia, Helen - and eventually a baby daughter. Cleo: How an uppity cat helped heal a family is a warm and often funny book about love, loss and redemption. Its also a book about a small black feline who helped mend a familys broken hearts by sheer force of her cat personality.