The Travelling Cat Chronicles

The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arilawa (2015) 277 pages

A stray cat without a name is befriended and later rescued by a man after being hit by a car. The story is told by the cat, whom the man dubs Nana because the cat's tail hooks like the number seven, which in Japan, is nana. Once the cat recovers, he stays with the man, Satoru, in his apartment. He learns that Satoru had been orphaned when his parents were in an accident when he was a young boy, and that he had to give up his cat to go live with his aunt. That other cat was much beloved, and looked much like Nana looks.

The story moves forward when the cat and the man go on the road in Japan, visiting friends that Satoru had made throughout his youth, looking for someone to care for Nana. None of the friends' situations seems right for Nana. Satoru avoids telling people why he's looking for someone else to care for Nana, part of the mystery.

This is a sweet story, not only showing the bond between Nana and Satoru, but between Satoru and his friends, and sometimes between Nana and other animals.