Mary Gaitskill

'Last year I lost my cat Gattino. He was very young, at seven months barely an adolescent. He is probably dead but I don't know for certain.'

On a writing retreat in Italy, Mary Gaitskill rescued a stray cat and promptly fell in love with him. When she returned to the US, she took him to live with her and he settled happily into his new home. Then one afternoon while out in the garden, he disappeared.

While interrogating the unexpected trauma of her loss, Gaitskill is reminded of another close relationship. A few years earlier, she and her husband had begun to foster two siblings, Caesar and Natalia, who spent summers and holidays with them. As she considers the joys and ultimate difficulties of this experience, Gaitskill offers a frank and moving examination of love, security and fear.

In this unforgettable work of memoir, Gaitskill applies her razor-sharp writing to her most personal subjects yet.

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