A stirring memoir from the acclaimed writer praised by Thomas Pynchon for having "the guts to go into the deepest core of herself, her time, her history, and risk more than anybody else has so far, just out of a love for the truth and a need to tell it." Called "breathtakingly ambitious" by the New York Times for her novels' forays into war, history, the lives of the homeless, and the minds of cyborgs, Marge Piercy, one of the few writers of our time to be highly praised as both a poet and a novelist, turns her lens inward for the first time as she shares her thoughts on life and explores her development as a woman and writer. She revisits the people and places that have shaped her experiences and inspired her work. And she pays tribute to the one loving constant that has offered her comfort and meaning even as the faces and events in her life have changed: her beloved cats. With searing honesty Piercy tells of her strained childhood growing up in a religiously split working-class family in Detroit. She examines her myriad friendships and relationships, including two painful early marriages, and reveals their effects on her creativity and career. More than a reminiscence of things past, however, Sleeping with Cats is also a celebration of the present and the future, as Piercy shares her views on aging, creativity, and finding a lasting and improbable love with a man fourteen years younger than herself. A chronicle of the turbulent and exciting journey of one artist's life, Sleeping with Cats is a deeply intimate, unforgettable story. Prolific poet and novelist Piercy retells her life from the bottom up, starting in working-class Detroit. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. Esteemed novelist and poet Piercy loves cats, to the extent that "a spine of cats" has been the mainstay of her life. As she approaches her sixty-fifth birthday, she coaxes from her memory the "truth of events" as she can best interpret it from hindsight. Despite her insistence that her childhood is difficult to recall, the deprivations--even physical abuse--of those early years in Detroit are rendered in distinct hues. She joined a street gang specializing in petty theft; sexual adventure occupied not an inconsiderable amount of her teenage life. She attended college and endured two problematic marriages before she found her soulmate in her third husband. Through all the good times and bad times, Piercy has had cats to give her love and, figuratively, a shoulder to cry on. She mentions her writing, but more in passing, for this is primarily a memoir of family and friends--and cats have featured as both in her life. She is honest without having to spill blood and shed tears on every page. Although many of the events she shares are not unique, her resonant writing makes this a special book. Brad Hooper Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved “Marge Piercy holds up a mirror to modern life.” (Chicago Tribune) “Marge Piercy is one of our boldest and most prolific writers.” (Los Angeles Times Book Review) “An enriching pleasure . . . a lovingly written memoir by a woman in touch with what matters.” (Washington Post) “The personal and the political recollected with honesty and passion.” (Kirkus Reviews) Marge Piercy is the author of the memoir Sleeping with Cats and fifteen novels, including Three Women and Woman on the Edge of Time, as well as sixteen books of poetry, including Colors Passing Through Us, The Art of Blessing the Day, and Circles on the Water. She lives on Cape Cod, with her husband, Ira Wood, the novelist and publisher of Leapfrog Press.