Cleo

How a Small Black Cat Helped Heal a Family

By: Helen Brown

Narrated by: Helen Brown

Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

A warm and often funny book about love, loss and redemption. It's also a story about small black cat who helped mend a family's broken hearts by sheer force of her personality.  

Helen Brown wasn't a cat person, but her nine-year-old son Sam was. So when Sam heard a woman telling his mum that her cat had just had kittens, Sam pleaded to go and see them. 

Helen's heart melted as Sam held one of the kittens in his hands with a look of total adoration. In a trice the deal was done - the kitten would be delivered to them when she was big enough to leave her mother. 

A week later, the family suffered a terrible tragedy. Totally traumatised by it, Helen completely forgot all about the kitten until a little black bundle of fur was delivered to her doorstep. Helen was ready to send the kitten back, but it wasn't long before Cleo's zest for life made the grieving family laugh again. 

Cleo went on to become the uppity high priestess of the household, vetoing visitors (in an uncannily spot-on way), terrifying dogs and building a very special bond with her human servants (aka the family).

©2007 Helen Brown (P)2018 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

good story

good story. well told. well listen to it again. all around great listen. highly recommend.

Cats!

If you love cats, you will love this book!i I was drawn to it because I had a black cat with green eyes also! Smart as a whip and just as entertaining. Cats are intuitive and know just what you need. Enjoy the life of Cleo!

Deeper than a cute cat story.

This book is as much about the progression in the lives of the author and her family as the cat Cleo, who helps in their transformation. It is a frank, funny, heartfelt and, hopeful tale. The author is also a great narrator of her own story. She does get a little New Age-y at times, which prevented me from giving it the full five stars. That said, wonderful story!

This is right on par with Merle’s Door. Loved it!!

It took a while to warm to this, and I am so glad I hung in there. The author’s reading had a thick accent which was difficult for me. But at some point I fell in love with it, even though some words I couldn’t understand, and with the story and with Cleo, so I kept rewinding the book so I didn’t have to reach the end.
I had been drawn to this book to hear what a life well lived would have been like, since mine hasn’t gone so well. It was very good to hear that even though tough stuff happened, overall the author’s life was well lived. It was a book about family life, not only a book about a cat named Cleo.
A beautiful story. I’m sure I will be hearing it again. Thank you to the author for telling her story. It is honest, not glossy. That’s what made it so good.

Wonderful Pet Memoir

Well written and well read by the author. I really like it when authors are willing to narrate their own books, especially memoirs. Unfortunately, they're not always as good at reading as they are at writing. Not so with Cleo. Helen Brown is a talented and experienced writer, and did a great job narrating. The story is more tragic and difficult than others, but well worth telling and reading or listening too. She really does end up coming out stronger and better through a difficult life.

Although Helen and I are very different kinds of people (even when compared in our younger years), I really grew to respect her and would love to meet her in person. The book covers a very long time, which probably feels longer than it actually is because of everything that happens. There's quite a bit of "glossing over" important events, but that's to keep focus on the topic - her life with Cleo. Putting in the other things would make it an autobiography and make the book twice as long.

Overall, well worth a read or listen. Maybe Cleo can turn other "non cat people" into cat lovers.

A LOVE STORY

A beautiful memoir so beautifully told will capture your heart make you laugh and cry a river of tears. A cat lovers slice of heaven. The author did an amazing reading her own story.

I will definitely recommend this book.

This was beautiful story. It was sad, happy, touching and memorable. I agree they aren't just cats. They are part of our families they are furry beings that come into our lives to love us, give joy, mend us and provide comfort. ❤️

Wonderful

A book has never made me cry before. Helen’s voice is so soothing, and it was so hard to hear her describe Cleo’s death.