BONO: The Amazing Story of a Rescue Cat Who Inspired a Community
When Helen Brown arrived in New York for a month-long business stay, a fellow animal-lover talked her into fostering a shelter cat. Helen visualized a sweet-natured cuddler who blinked and dozed a lot. What she got at Manhattan's Bideawee shelter was a wide-eyed and unpredictable Persian with a punked-out haircut and a feisty attitude. This week Michelle Fern welcomes Helen to Cattitude to find out how this little feisty feline changed her life and inspired a community!
BIO:
Helen Brown was born in New Plymouth, New Zealand, where her father managed the local gas works. After an unremarkable school career, she followed her mother’s footsteps into journalism. Helen went to Wellington Polytechnic School of Journalism then trained as a cadet reporter on The Dominion.
She moved to the UK in the early ‘70s to become a teenage bride and work on The Woking Review along with other magazines. When the couple returned to New Zealand to have two sons, Sam and Rob, Helen started writing regular columns about so-called ordinary life. She also wrote television scripts, current affairs for national radio and was a regular guest on TVNZ’s Beauty and the Beast.
Her life was torn apart on January 21, 1983, when Sam, aged nine, was run over and killed. Amid the emotional devastation, a black kitten called Cleo was delivered to her doorstep. Cleo helped the shattered family take the first steps toward healing.
After Lydia’s birth in 1985, the family moved to Auckland where Helen worked as a feature writer for the Sunday Star. Her columns were collected in a series of eight books. She was awarded a Nuffield Press Fellowship to Cambridge University, UK.
Following her divorce, Helen met a handsome ex army officer who was meant to be a one night stand. They married in Switzerland and had a daughter, Katharine. Twenty five years later, Helen and Philip are still together, surely creating the longest one night stand in history.
Helen’s memoir CLEO took the world by storm in 2010. A New York Times best seller with two million copies sold, it’s in more than 17 languages. A major movie is in development with Hollywood director Ben Lewin, producer John Barnett and a screenplay by Jodie Molloy. Filming is scheduled to take place late 2018-early 2019.
The sequel, AFTER CLEO CAME JONAH (CATS AND DAUGHTERS in the US), was published in many languages and warmly embraced by readers and critics alike.
Her first novel TUMBLEDOWN MANOR follows the adventures of a woman who reinvents herself after a disastrous 50th birthday.Already a best seller in Australasia, it was released in the UK and the US in May 2016.
Her book, BONO – THE AMAZING STORY OF A RESCUE CAT WHO INSPIRED A COMMUNITY, is available in North America, Australia and New Zealand. Also to be released in Russia by AST Publishers, Moscow.
Helen lives in Melbourne, Australia, with Philip and their crazy, blog- obsessed cat, Jonah. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys making lemon slice with her adorable grand daughters, Annie and Stella.