Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett

Reading Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter was sipping a decadent cinnamon hot chocolate topped with heavy, homemade vanilla whipped cream. It was light and fluffy, yet warmed my soul with its rich, spicy depths. The cold streets of Montreal in winter glow by magic and compassion: I imagined the city as bathed in golden light from old street lamps. I remembered how magical (& European!) Montreal felt to me many years ago when I spent a few chilly February days there.

In this book, we follow Agnes: a selfless widow who has devoted her life to running a cat shelter. Magical trials and tribulations have led her to search for a new storefront and, ultimately, picking a too-good-to-be-true location (the only one she can afford!). Despite doing her best to avoid magic, she becomes in entangled with a dark magician who isn’t actually so dark. And of course the cats get up to mischief of their own!

Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter (wow this title is a fingerful to type!) is full of tropes, self-discovery, and enchantments. It’s a book that reminds the reader to treasure the small things. A kiss in the snow with your husband. A hug from your sibling. Fresh bagels in the morning. A cat winding around your legs. The smell of eclairs baking.

… Never-ending pastry seems a wiser thing to long for than the lofty ambitions many people set their hearts on, as well as far less likely to end in regret. And the absence of ailment is a blessing for which we should all be more grateful. Would not the world be better off if we content ourselves with the small miracles of life?

I think the world would be better if the things we wanted most were so sweet (quite literally!). Now I want to wander the blustery streets of Montreal with Sam. I remember our old Ithaca days and nights, tromping in the snow, slipping and falling in my apartment parking lot. I remember walking around Ann Arbor in December, under the soft snow illuminated by yellow street lamps and white Christmas tree lights, when the snow dampens the noise and makes me feel cozy and safe and nostalgic. Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter made me feel a bt like this.