Saved by a whisker or three
The Nelson Arts Festival has teamed up with Hawkes Bay Readers and Writers to bring New York Times bestselling author Helen Brown to New Zealand to discuss her new book, Bono: The Rescue Cat Who Helped Me Find My Way Home.
The award-winning New Zealand journalist and author of more than a dozen books will join dog lover Jacquetta Bell on stage as part of the Page & Blackmore Readers and Writers programme in Nelson to discuss and read from her third memoir, about a strange stray cat called Bono, who arrived in Brown’s life at a time when she was questioning her future.
Brown’s three memoirs each document major life challenges and how three cats serendipitously arrived to show her the way.
The first cat, Cleo, turned up on her doorstep just before Brown’s nine-year-old son Sam was accidently run over and killed. Amid the emotional devastation, Cleo helped the shattered family take the first steps towards healing.
Cleo sold two million copies and has been translated into more than 18 languages. Hollywood director Ben Lewin optioned the film and is currently developing it with producer John Barnett and screenwriter Jodie Molloy. Filming is scheduled to take place later this year and early 2019.
The arrival of a kooky Siamese called Jonah inspired the sequel, After Cleo Came Jonah, published in 2012. It’s an account of Brown’s cancer treatment and the highs and lows of mother-daughter relationships.
After the illness – and her husband’s decision to purchase a pair of flannelette pyjamas – she is forced to re-evaluate everything, Brown accepts an invitation to visit New York. During her stay, she agrees, somewhat reluctantly, to foster Bono, a wide-eyed and unpredictable Persian made homeless during the Hurricane Sandy ‘‘superstorm’’.
As Brown and Bono get to know each other, the skittish cat teaches her that the whole point of being alive is to remain open to the possibility of love, despite the physical and emotional hurt it often entails.
Bono slowly emerges from under the bed and Brown begins to finds herself again in the city that never sleeps.
Based on the popular Huffington Post blog she wrote during her time in New York, Bono was published by Harper Collins in May.
Born in New Plymouth in 1954 and now living in Melbourne with her family and Jonah, this is Brown’s first visit to New Zealand to talk about what she has learned about life from cats.
‘‘I found many people wanted nothing more than to share their stories. It’s such a basic need, I wondered if arranging tragic events into a logical shape is a way of helping the brain adjust to trauma,’’ Brown writes in Bono.