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Booksellers are predicting that a Picador novel by a little-known Japanese writer will prove a left-field Christmas bestseller.
The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide, translated by Eric Selland, sold over 16,200 in paperback in its first six and a half weeks since publication at the end of September via Nielsen BookScan's TCM figures, after being championed by booksellers despite scant reviews. The publisher said full sales were "substantially more", and that the novel was now onto its seventh printing.
Senior editor Kris Doyle acquired the book, which was a success for US publisher New Directions earlier this year, giving the company its first New York Times bestseller. However Takashi Hiraide, also the author of a number of volumes of poetry, has not been previously published in the UK and was an unknown for readers here.
Doyle said the book had been "completely made by booksellers," particularly in London, although also across the UK more widely, and through both independents and chains. "Foyles in Waterloo put the book in its window and had a beautiful display," he said. "Daunt Books also put it in a window, and Waterstones got behind it as well, with tables in the Gower Street branch for example. WH Smith and WH Smith Travel had it as well. There's been genuine enthusiasm – perhaps it was the package to begin with, it's a lovely package, but then it was the book."
The Guest Cat is a short book of under 150 pages about how a stagnant marriage between a couple living in a small Tokyo flat is brought back to life when a stray cat wanders in and reminds them of the spirit of fun. Doyle describes it as having "a poet's precision and a Murakami–like playfulness, with a slightly fabular quality," comparing it to Jean Giono's The Man Who Planted Trees. "At first appearance, it's a gentle and charming story about the happiness a cat can bring into a home (and a marriage), but it's really much deeper than that: it's about the inherent fragility of life, and it's a book that encourages readers to look for joy in the world, their interactions with it, and themselves," he commented.
Alison Belshaw, retail manager of Waterstones Gower Street, said the book was already the store's bestselling paperback of the year, despite being out for just six weeks. "It will definitely be a Christmas gift, and I expect it to take off substantially in December," she said. "It's one of those little books that instantly warmed the hearts of four or five different people here, and almost everyone picks it up because it looks so pretty. We all loved it but we have been quite surprised at how successful it's been. But it's about cats, we sell a lot of translated fiction, and it even has a chapter in the middle about philosophy and Machiavelli – literally, could it be any easier to sell to our students?"
A spokesperson for Daunt Books Marylebone also said the book was "flying out" of the shop. "It's a book we really like, a sweet, very appealing story, with a lovely cover, and lots of customers have really enjoyed it and come back to buy copies for their friends. It's real word-of-mouth," she said. Patrizia Sorrentino, manager of Foyles Waterloo, said it had been one of the most successful titles the branch had displayed in its windows "and seems to be taking Waterloo by storm."
Doyle said that in response to its warm reception, Pan Macmillan would now be including the book in its Christmas marketing.
Because the author has a low profile in this country, Belshaw is doing an email Q&A with Takashi Hiraide for the Waterstones website, which she hopes will be online before Christmas.