WINNER OF THE JAPAN FANTASY NOVEL AWARD
In his third life, Kuro belonged to a famous author.
Now, in his ninth, he wants nothing more to do with humans, who bring nothing but trouble and suffering. Drawn to the city in search of food, he comes across the Hokuto-do Bookshop, owned by a curious woman who has already given a home to four contented cats.
Soon Kuro begins to notice the shop's quirks: there are few customers, but it never goes out of business. No stock is ordered, but it never runs out of books. And the other cats also belonged to famous authors in previous lives. If he wants to know more of its secrets, he will have to reveal his own — about the life he shared with the author.
At first, he is reluctant, but when a young aspiring writer faces tragedy, Kuro is drawn into her struggle, confronting the bookshop's hidden past to help keep her dream alive.
About the author & translator
Kentaro Utsugi is from Koshigaya, Saitama Prefecture. He grew up in a house surrounded by books, and before he knew it, he started writing novels. His first novel, The Forest Calls, was published in 2021. The Nine Lives of a Bookshop Cat won the Japan Fantasy Novel Grand Prize 2024, judged, among others, by the author Tomihiko Morimi.
Translated from the Japanese by Sylvia Gallagher.
Cover illustrations © Molvisu · For readers of Tsubaki Stationery Store, The Cat Who Saved Books and Before the Coffee Gets Cold.
