This book is the sequel to "The Story of Fester Cat" in which Paul Magrs related his happy life with Fester, a stray cat, who one day decided to adopt him and his partner Jeremy, their long battle against Fester's illness and the horrible day they had to let him go...
Just as this first book, "Welcome home, Bernard Socks" is told from the viewpoint of Fester who lingers as a cat ghost to make sure that his boys are ok.
It is a story of opening your heart again after a terrible loss. To adopt a sucessor who, of course, could never be a replacement. As Fester put it "So the lesson of my love is for you to be alone? [...] I am dead. I have no choice. But you do. You simply must give your heart again. You must look after another. And let another look after you." (p. 10)
I suppose that everybody who has ever loved and mourned a cat can relate to this complicated situation, of dealing with grief and trying to go on, experiencing this magic moment and pure joy of adopting a cat while at the same time being so sad and still (always will be) having a beloved dead cat in your heart. I am going through this right now and, although I had to stop very often to cry a bit (my little lady cat resembled Fester in so many ways, she died from cancer but she, too, had thyroid disease and had to take pills for years and she was so incredibly tiny compared to my new feline companion), I have found it soothing and reassuring.
Also, I just love Paul Magrs fluent, eloquent writing style. My favourite of the two books will remain "The Story of Fester Cat" but this book is definitely an important sequel.
