Strays: The True Story of a Lost Cat, a Homeless Man and Their Journey Across America

Description

For fans of A Street Cat Named Bob and Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World, Strays is a compelling true story of a man who rescues a stray, injured cat and how they save each other. Homeless, alcoholic, and depressed, Michael King lives in a UPS loading bay on the wrong side of Portland, Oregon. One rainy night, he stumbles upon a hurt, starving, scruffy cat and takes her in. Nursing her back to health, he names her Tabor. When winter comes, they travel from Oregon to the beaches of California to the high plains of Montana, surviving blizzards and bears, angry steers and rainstorms. Along the way, people are drawn to the spirited, beautiful cat and moved to help Michael. Tabor comforts Michael when he's down, giving him someone to love and care for, inspiring him to get sober and come to terms with his past family traumas and grief over the death of his partner. But when Michael takes Tabor to a vet in Montana, he discovers that she has an identification chip and an owner who has never given up hope of finding her. Michael makes the difficult choice to return to Portland to reunite Tabor with her owner and learn to create a new purpose in his life after Tabor. Strays is the true story of a charismatic, adventurous cat and the healing power of the bonds between humans and animals.

Britt Collins is an English journalist who writes for the Guardian, the Sunday Times, the Independent, Harper's Bazaar, Conde Nast Traveller, and Billionaire.com. She has volunteered at animal sanctuaries around the world, from tending big cats and baboons in Namibia to wild horses in Nevada-a labor of love that has inspired features for the Guardian and the Sunday Times. While writing Sunday People, she has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for many international charities through her investigative animal-cruelty stories; as an activist, she has helped shut down controversial breeders of laboratory animals. She lives with her cats in London.

'This lovely, luminous story will warm your heart, make you laugh and want to share your life with a rescue cat' -- Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, author of The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats 'The story continues to linger in my mind and reminds me that the care of an animal really can motivate and make change possible' -- Claire Bessant, CEO of International Cat Care 'At times heart-wrenching, Strays held me captive, eager, and anxious for little Tabor to find her way back home' -- Barbara Bennett, author of Soul of a Lion 'When a homeless man met a stray feline, it led to an odyssey that changed their lives' * New York Post * 'A tearjerker of a movie waiting to happen' * Bustle (16 best non-fiction reads) * 'Possibly the most beautiful story I've ever read about hope, healing and the human-feline bond' -- Gwen Cooper, author of Homer's Odyssey 'The rock 'n' roll cat book' -- Shane MacGowan 'Endearing, beautiful, rich with emotion' * Shelf Awareness * 'Compelling' * The Oregonian * 'Super-riveting' -- Caroline Paul, author of Lost Cat 'Readers of A Street Cat Named Bob will be moved by this healing love story' * Library Journal * 'Must-read book of 2017' * Mochas, Meows & Mysteries *