My Father, the Cat

Etienne Dauphin narrates a life that begins in a French estate where the lines between human and animal blur. His mother, a delicate Breton lady, married an elegant white Angora cat named Dauphin, who spoke several languages and became the family’s confidante. After his mother’s early death, Etienne was raised by his feline father and devoted servants, learning literature, art, and the pleasures of fine food and wine under the cat’s precise guidance.

At eighteen, Etienne follows his father’s wish and travels to an American university, where the raw energy of the new world challenges his cultivated upbringing. He graduates, finds work in a metropolitan art museum, and meets Joanna, a vibrant daughter of a southwestern cattle rancher whose bold spirit contrasts sharply with his own refined background. Bound by his father’s warning to keep his unusual parentage hidden, Etienne prepares to confront both cultures when he brings Joanna back to the French estate.