For fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold and How to Stop Time, a charming novel by TikTok sensation Alex Howard that follows a cat through his nine lives in Edinburgh, moving through the ever-changing city and its inhabitants over centuries.

Early morning, 1902. In a gloomy Edinburgh tenement, Eilidh the charlady tips coal into a fire grate and sets it alight. Overhearing, a cat ambles over to curl up against the welcome heat.

This is to be the cat’s last day on earth. But he is going to return… as The Ghost Cat, a spirit-feline destined to live out his ghostly existence according to the medieval proverb of “The Cat with Nine Lives” – For Three He Plays, For Three He Strays, For Three He Stays.

Follow The Ghost Cat as he witnesses the changes of the next two centuries as he purrs, shuffles and sniffs his way through the fashion, politics and technological advances of the modern era alongside the ever-changing inhabitants of an Edinburgh tenement.

As we follow our new spirit-feline friend, this unique story unearths some startling revelations about the mystery of existence and the human condition and provides a feel-good read full of charm for any fan of history, humour and fur-ridden fun.

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I was initially drawn to this book because it’s being compared to Before the Coffee Gets Cold and while I can see why that comparison is being made, I will say that the books have completely different feelings to them. They can definitely be compared in that they feature a number of connected vignettes being Grimalkin’s 9 lives. I found this book to be utterly charming and cozy as Grimalkin makes his way through his lives while being a ghost cat. Though we could have used more detail and depth to each life, they were filled with intriguing personalities that I would have loved to see more of. It’s understandable as everything is told through Grimalkin’s eyes and voice, but the different humans he encounters could have built out with more depth.

Happy reading!