Start gifting
Libro.fm for Business
Start a membership, get two free audiobooks
Cozy Fantasy Reads
Get two free audiobooks AND support local bookstores
Make the switch
On sale
Send as gift
Add to Wish List
Almost ready!
In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account.
Log in Create account
Limited-time offer
Get two free audiobooks when you make the switch!
Now’s a great time to shop indie. When you start a new membership supporting local bookstores with promo code SWITCH, we’ll give you two bonus audiobook credits at sign-up.
Make the switch
Gift audiobook credit bundles
You pick the number of credits, your recipient picks the audiobooks, and your local bookstore is supported by your purchase.
Start giftingThe Cat Who Saved Books
A Novel
Narrator
Kevin Shen
This audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
Learn more
Length
5 hours 6 minutes
Language
English
Bookseller recommendation
“Japanese high school student Rintaro Natsuki has never been good at making friends. Instead, he keeps to his books and helps his grandfather, Rintaro’s closest family member and guardian, run a quaint and well-loved used bookstore. But when his grandfather suddenly passes, Rintaro is faced with the possibility of closing the shop and moving away with a distant aunt. Just when everything seems bleak, a strange talking cat appears with an odd request: “Help me save books in trouble.” By Sosuke Natsukawa, the #1 bestselling author in Japan, The Cat Who Saved Books is a touching tale of loss, human connections, finding your own way, and the importance of books. Fans of Studio Gibli movies will especially adore this read.”
— Nicholas • Mysterious Galaxy Books
AN INDIE NEXT PICK!
From the #1 bestselling author in Japan comes a celebration of books, cats, and the people who love them, infused with the heartwarming spirit of The Guest Cat and The Travelling Cat Chronicles.
Bookish high school student Rintaro Natsuki is about to close the secondhand bookstore he inherited from his beloved bookworm grandfather. Then, a talking cat appears with an unusual request. The feline asks for—or rather, demands—the teenager’s help in saving books with him. The world is full of lonely books left unread and unloved, and the cat and Rintaro must liberate them from their neglectful owners.
Their mission sends this odd couple on an amazing journey, where they enter different mazes to set books free. Through their travels, the cat and Rintaro meet a man who leaves his books to perish on a bookshelf, an unwitting book torturer who cuts the pages of books into snippets to help people speed read, and a publishing drone who only wants to create bestsellers. Their adventures culminate in one final, unforgettable challenge—the last maze that awaits leads Rintaro down a realm only the bravest dare enter . . .
An enthralling tale of books, first love, fantasy, and an unusual friendship with a talking cat, The Cat Who Saved Books is a story for those for whom books are so much more than words on paper.
Translated from the Japanese by Louise Heal Kawai.
""Cats, books, young love, and adventure: catnip for a variety of readers!"" –Kirkus
Sosuke Natsukawa is a doctor in Nagano, Japan. His first book Kamisama No Karute (God’s Medical Records) won the Shogakukan Fiction Prize and received 2nd Place at the Japan Bookseller Awards. It sold over 1.5 million copies and was adapted into a film in Japan.
