We’ll Prescribe You Another Cat
by Syou Ishida
Berkley Books
The Nakagyo Kokoro Clinic for the Soul is not your typical mental health clinic. Patients actually don’t make appointments. They sort of wander into the mysterious building on the recommendation of a friend or co-worker. They don’t walk out with your standard pharmaceutical aids or find themselves scheduled for therapy sessions, either. Instead, they are introduced to a unique feline helper who can bring healing to their weary souls and stinging heartaches.
In the second book of the series, We’ll Prescribe You Another Cat, award-winning author Syou Ishida brings us once again to Kyoto and the mysterious clinic where four new patients in need of emotional healing find hope. Young Moé is having problems with her boyfriend. Will he or won’t he dump her? Dr. Nikké prescribes her a series of three cats that gradually help Moé to stop worrying about her boyfriend’s commitment level and actually talk to him.
Tatsuya, who recently lost his wife, is prescribed Ms. Michiko to lift, a very heavy black and white cat that suspiciously looks like the same one on a “Lost Cat” poster in his neighborhood. Will looking for the lost cat and trying to find the clinic again bring the recluse and his grandson closer together and back into society?
Moé’s friend Reona has issues with her mother who seems to prefer her “perfect” brother over her. A trip to the soul clinic brings Shasha, a vivacious young kitten, into their household that helps both their older cat Hajime and the mother and daughter see things in a new light. Reona’s brother Tomoya meanwhile is experiencing guilt feelings over putting his work at a cat shelter above being with his dying cat Nikké who seems to sleep all day back at his apartment. The strange doctor at the Nakagyo Kokoro Clinic for the Soul reminds Tomoya that his beloved pet is dreaming enjoyable dreams and not to worry, but the doctor couldn’t actually be Nikké… Could he?
Who knew that felines could bring so much love and healing into our lives! Ishida creates a magical world of whimsy and feline fun that will entertain both cat-lovers and non-cat-lovers alike in these four short stories. I look forward to the next book in the series.
