The Travelling Cat Chronicles

By: Hiro Arikawa, Philip Gabriel

Narrated by: George Blagden

Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

Random House presents the audiobook edition of The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa, read by George Blagden.

The tender feelgood story of a man's journey around Japan with a streetcat. Translated by Philip Gabriel, a translator of Murakami. 

It's not the journey that counts, but who's at your side.

Nana is on a road trip, but he is not sure where he is going. All that matters is that he can sit beside his beloved owner Satoru in the front seat of his silver van. Satoru is keen to visit three old friends from his youth, though Nana doesn’t know why and Satoru won’t say.

Set against the backdrop of Japan’s changing seasons and narrated with a rare gentleness and humour, Nana’s story explores the wonder and thrill of life’s unexpected detours. It is about the value of friendship and solitude, and knowing when to give and when to take. TRAVELLING CAT has already demonstrated its power to move thousands with a message of kindness and truth. It shows, above all, how acts of love, both great and small, can transform our lives.

A WATERSONES PAPERBACK OF THE YEAR 2017

©2018 Hiro Arikawa and Philip Gabriel (P)2018 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Bewitching...as self-possessed and comforting as - well, a cat." (Sunday Telegraph)

"A delightful tale of loyalty and friendship." (John Boyne, Irish Times)

A beautiful and moving tale...

about a man, a cat, and friendship. I wish I could find such honesty IRL.

A moving tale about life journey and being a cat

The book itself was very touching and I cried at the ending. The narrator was absolutely perfect for the book and he did an amazing job for all the characters.

Highly recommended.

Beautiful tearjerking story

Prepare tissues. I was ugly sobbing throughout this beautiful book about family, friendship, and pets.

Good for pet lovers, stoic-wannabes and grievers

Melancholic, but sweet, tender, hearrwarming and humane at the same time.
(spoiler alert)

Satoru - Nana's owner - is a perfect (a bit idealised though) example of a stoic in modern life - loving, caring, emotional, yet calm and never seeing himself as a victim of life, even though he went through so many traumatic events. His grieving for the lost ones, although not detailed in the story, ended up with gratitude and more love for life, which is a healthy way to make out of grief, psychologically speaking.
Nana is such a badass cat too. I love the main characters and how they deal with adversities in life, and the dynamics between them can
make you smile, then cry, then smile again.

Best Book I Listened To In 2022

What an amazing story and flawless narration. Went into this not knowing what to expect and found a hidden gem.

I Wanna get a cat now

It should be longer but i love it anyway, Would love to see a movie son Esaú

Only one negative point: too short!

The most adorable and touching story! just wish it was longer, that it lasted forever!

Hiro Arikawa has a new Lifelong Fan

This is a wonderful and heartbreaking story. I'm not embarrassed to admit that it hard me weeping from cover to cover. It's a dedicated to friendship and honors pets. As for the narration by George Blagden, he can't help not knowing how to pronounce Japanese words such as Kokura. He was saying Ko cure ra. Totally wrong. He also wasn't saying Chikako's name right. It sounded more like Chicago from him. That aside, he's a great narrator. You can't really fault someone for not knowing a phoneme system from a language they probably don't speak. This is now one of my favorite books of all time. That said, it's obviously inspired by Hachiko, hence the first cat's name being in dedication to the famous loyal dog. If you don't know that story, look it up. Like Hachiko, there's a movie adaptation of this book.

This is well worth your time.