The Blanket Cats — Kiyoshi Shigematsu

Translated from the Japanese bestseller that was adapted into a popular television series, seven struggling customers take up the unique opportunity to adopt a blanket cat . . . but only for three days, the time it'll take for their lives to change, for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold and The Travelling Cat Chronicles.

Is three days with a cat long enough to change a life?

A peculiar pet shop in Tokyo has been known to offer customers a unique opportunity: the chance to adopt one of seven special cats whose "magic" is never promised, but always received. But there are rules: these cats must be returned after three days. They must eat only the food supplied by the owner; no onion, abalone, or chicken bones. And they must travel to their new homes with a distinctive blanket. 

In The Blanket Cats, we meet seven customers, each of whom is hoping a temporary feline companion will help them escape a certain reality, including a couple struggling with infertility, a middle-aged woman on the run from the police, and two families in very different circumstances simply seeking joy. 

But like all their kind, the blanket cats are mysterious creatures with unknowable agendas, who delight in confounding expectations. And perhaps what their hosts are looking for isn't what they really need. Three days may not be enough to change a life. But it might be enough to change how they see it.