Love Saves the Day: A Novel - Softcover

Gwen Cooper

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0345526953 ISBN 13: 9780345526953

Publisher: Bantam Dell Publishing Group, Div of Random House, Inc, 2013

Synopsis

From the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir Homer's Odyssey comes a tender, joyful, utterly unforgettable novel, primarily told through the eyes of the most observant member of any human family: the cat.

Humans best understand the truth of things if they come at it indirectly. Like how sometimes the best way to catch a mouse that's right in front of you is to back up before you pounce.

So notes Prudence, the irresistible brown tabby at the center of Gwen Cooper's tender, joyful, utterly unforgettable novel, which is mostly told through the eyes of this curious (and occasionally cranky) feline.

When five-week-old Prudence meets a woman named Sarah in a deserted construction site on Manhattan's Lower East Side, she knows she's found the human she was meant to adopt. For three years their lives are filled with laughter, tuna, catnaps, music, and the unchanging routines Prudence craves. Then one day Sarah doesn't come home. From Prudence's perch on the windowsill she sees Laura, the daughter who hardly ever comes to visit Sarah, arrive with her new husband. They're carrying boxes. Before they even get to the front door, Prudence realizes that her life has changed forever.

Suddenly Prudence finds herself living in a strange apartment with humans she barely knows. It could take years to train them in the feline courtesies and customs (for example, a cat should always be fed before the humans, and at the same exact time every day) that Sarah understood so well. Prudence clings to the hope that Sarah will come back for her while Laura, a rising young corporate attorney, tries to push away memories of her mother and the tumultuous childhood spent in her mother's dusty downtown record store. But the secret joys, past hurts, and life-changing moments that make every mother-daughter relationship special will come to the surface. With Prudence's help Laura will learn that the past, like a mother's love, never dies.

Poignant, insightful, and laugh-out-loud funny, Love Saves the Day is a story of hope, healing, and how the love of an animal can make all of us better humans. It's the story of a mother and daughter divided by the turmoil of bohemian New York, and the opinionated, irrepressible feline who will become the bridge between them. It's a novel for anyone who's ever lost a loved one, wondered what their cat was really thinking, or fallen asleep with a purring feline nestled in their arms. Prudence, a cat like no other, is sure to steal your heart.

Praise for Love Saves the Day

"Prudence [is a] sassy but sensitive feline heroine."--Time

"Unforgettably moving . . . a hard one to put down."--Modern Cat

"If you are the Most Important Person to a cat, you will hold them much tighter by the book's end. If you don't have a cat, Prudence will have surreptitiously lured you into the danger zone: Falling in love with a cat because they need family, too."--The Vancouver Sun

"Cooper brings readers a fictional tale that cat lovers will treasure. . . . This book will make most readers laugh and cry, and probably lead them to wonder more often what, exactly, their pet is thinking."--Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star

"The interspersed viewpoints . . . enrich Cooper's sensitively told novel that unravels a story (based on actual events) about a century-old tenement building--and the inhabitants therein. That story ultimately serves as the basis to understanding the emotional subtexts of these authentic, well-drawn characters."--Shelf Awareness

About this title

Review:

"Prudence [is a] sassy but sensitive feline heroine."--Time

"Unforgettably moving . . . a hard one to put down."--Modern Cat

"If you are the Most Important Person to a cat, you will hold them much tighter by the book's end. If you don't have a cat, Prudence will have surreptitiously lured you into the danger zone: Falling in love with a cat because they need family, too."--The Vancouver Sun

"Cooper brings readers a fictional tale that cat lovers will treasure. . . . This book will make most readers laugh and cry, and probably lead them to wonder more often what, exactly, their pet is thinking."--Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star

"The interspersed viewpoints . . . enrich Cooper's sensitively told novel that unravels a story (based on actual events) about a century-old tenement building--and the inhabitants therein. That story ultimately serves as the basis to understanding the emotional subtexts of these authentic, well-drawn characters."--Shelf Awareness

"Love Saves the Day is a charming story of love lost and found, both in human hearts and that of one very special cat. Prudence's voice is as simple and honest as that of the child who sees things adults miss. At its heart, this book is an exploration of unconditional love between mother and daughter, as seen through the eyes of a creature who lives for just this. In that sense, Love Saves the Day eloquently explains why so many of us would do anything at all for our pets."--Barbara Delinsky, New York Times bestselling author of Escape

"Finally, publishers are realizing cats can write. You go, Prudence!"--New York Times bestselling author Sneaky Pie Brown (via her spokeshuman, Rita Mae Brown)

"Once again Gwen Cooper shines her light on the territory that defines the human/animal bond. In Love Saves the Day, she creates an emotional landscape so beautifully complete that we can't help but share in the heartbreaks and triumphs of her characters, regardless of their species. That, in itself, is a reason to stand up and cheer."--Jackson Galaxy, star of My Cat From Hell and author of Cat Daddy

"If you love cats, music, or New York City, you'll love Gwen Cooper's Love Saves the Day."--Nancy Thayer, author of Island Girls

"Prudence's voice is so hauntingly fragile and raw that it will break your heart a million ways while simultaneously piecing you back together. Love Saves the Day is a beautifully told story of loss and love and recovery, and of how the animals in our lives connect us to our own humanity."--Amanda Kyle Williams, author of Stranger in the Room

"Cooper's beautiful words tell a moving story of the sometimes fragile relationship between mothers and daughters as well as speaking on the special love that forms between a pet and its owner."--RT Book Reviews

"[Cooper] once again demonstrates her compassionate fluency in felinespeak and proves equally adept at conveying complex human emotions with flair and sensitivity."--Booklist

"Hauntingly beautiful, heart touching, and at times painfully raw, this is a story about grief, hope and healing. It's a story about the importance of memories, and of preserving a part of one's past. It is the story of a mother-daughter relationship that shows that deep rifts can be mended even after death. But ultimately, this is a book about love, and how one small cat, through her mere presence, can change multiple lives. This book will stay with you long after you turn the final page. And it already makes me look forward to Gwen Cooper's next book."--The Conscious Cat

"Love Saves the Day has taken Gwen Cooper to a whole new pinnacle as an author. The writing is superb. The story line is riveting. . . . There's no doubt Love Saves the Day is a winner. It's a book that everyone, whether you're a cat lover or not, should read."--BJ Bangs

"Love Saves the Day is sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes devastatingly tragic, and it holds your attention all the way through to its happy ending. For both cats and humans, it is one of this year's must-reads."--Sparkle the Designer Cat

About the Author:

Gwen Cooper is the New York Times bestselling author of the memoir Homer's Odyssey: A Fearless Feline Tale, or How I Learned About Love and Life with a Blind Wonder Cat and the novel Diary of a South Beach Party Girl. She is active with numerous animal welfare organizations. Gwen lives in Manhattan with her husband, Laurence. She also lives with her three perfect cats--Homer, Clayton, and Fanny--who aren't impressed with any of it.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bantam Dell Publishing Group, Div of Random House, Inc
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0345526953
• ISBN 13: 9780345526953
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336