The Cats We Meet Along the Way: Winner of the Waterstones Children's Book Prize 2023
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By Nadia Mikail
avg rating
2 reviews
Seventeen-year-old Aisha hasn’t seen her sister June for two years. And now that a calamity is about to end the world in nine months’ time, she and her mother decide that it’s time to track her down and mend the hurts of the past. Along with Aisha’s boyfriend, Walter and his parents (and Fleabag the stray cat), the group take a roadtrip through Malaysia in a wildly decorated campervan – to put the past to rest, to come to terms with the present, and to hope for the future.
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I thoroughly enjoyed this unusual book, set in Malaysia, about a girl who sets off on a road-trip to find her sister. The story is set in the near future, when everyone is preparing for a catastrophe which will lead to the 'end of the world'. Even so, this book is life-affirming, and reminded me of Katya Balen, because of its thoughtful and quite poetic style. Recommended.
Really good story by Nadia Mikail - a story about family, grieving and relationships set against the back-drop of the end of the world in Malaysia! Could have been quite bleak but there is a lot of joy in this story as well,. My favourite characters are the main character Aisha, and her boyfriend Walter. I loved the focus on different types of home (early houses, current houses, camper vans!) and how real the exploration of emotions felt by the different characters.
Strong recommend from me - for children over 10 I think.
