Scala Radio Book Club: Cat Lady by Dawn O'Porter
The much-loved author of So Lucky and The Cows
On Thursday the 3rd of November, Mark Forrest welcomed the much-loved author of So Lucky and The Cows to talk about her new novel Cat Lady.
We've all known a cat lady - and we've probably all judged her too. But behind the label - the one that only sticks to women - what if there's a story worth nine lives? Told with Dawn's trademark warmth, wit and irreverence, Cat Lady is a story about defying labels and forging friendships. It's for the cat lady in all of us - because a woman always lands on her feet...
Mark began the interview by asking: ‘Mia has a lot going for her, but when we meet her, she’s at a support group for people who have lost their cats, when her cat is very much alive! What is going on?’
‘So, Mia is a woman in her mid-forties who has everything on paper that a woman is supposed to have. Great job, husband, stepson, nice house, and it all feels like everything is going really well. But you get the impression that she's escaping a life of chaos that she doesn't want to return to bit by bit all those things that she has just slip away and then she is like plugged back into chaos.’ Dawn describes. ‘She has a spectacular meltdown and finds solace in a very strange group of people in a pep bereavement group, even though her cat hasn't even died and bit by bit she puts herself back together again with her new community, ends up in a much better place than she was before.’
Mark said ‘The topic that the book comes back to again and again is the importance of pets in our lives and not being embarrassed to grieve. How much, do you personally rely on animals to help you through your grief?’
‘I lost my mom when I was a kid. At first, I lived with my grandparents who didn't have any animals, but at the weekends I'd go and stay with my aunt and uncle who had dogs and cats and geese and chickens and all sorts of things. And these animals were my best friends. I spent hours down at the beach with our bearded collie, and I would tell her all my problems. She was my best friend in the world. The relationships with humans in my life were really difficult because everyone was grieving, and everyone was sad, and I didn't really know what to say to anybody and it was just hard. And then I would just be with this dog and feel so calm and relaxed’
Mark asked Dawn ‘How much did your career in TV documentaries prepare you for your life now as a writer?’
‘I just feel like I didn't realise it at the time. But I was just gathering material, meeting unbelievable characters all over the world and living with them spending intimate time with them. Obviously, what you end up with is a 55 Minute TV show, but I'd been there for 10 days. And there was so much so many of those characters. So many of those relationships inspire the fiction that I have right now. I just felt so lucky, it was the most insightful, incredible thing to do.’
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