A wry and deeply affecting story of forgiveness, flexibility, happiness, and the art of moving on…

THE BLESSINGS OF THE ANIMALS
A Novel
Katrina Kittle

Website: http://katrinakittle.com/ 
Blog: http://katrinakittle.blogspot.com/ 
Twitter: http://twitter.com/kkittle 
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Katrina-Kittle-Fan-Club/234187942929?ref=ts

Harper Perennial
HarperCollins Publishers
$14.99 Original Trade Paperback
ISBN-13:   978-0-06-190607-7
August 2010

From the critically acclaimed author of The Kindness of Strangers comes a wry, engrossing, and moving novel of a veterinarian’s journey through the aftermath of divorce—all amidst a motley crew of animals.

THE BLESSINGS OF THE ANIMALS is the latest Twin Cities Live
Book Club Pick!
Watch the video here.

Download this
READING GROUP GUIDE!

New!  Twin Cities Live Book Club Pick sign and shelf-talkers!

TCL Book Club Pick sign
TCL Book Club Pick shelf-talkers

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Featured on Twin Cities Live “What to Read Next” on August 16! 
Click here for more info.

“Wonderfully poignant characters and a deeply satisfying exploration of love in its many incarnations, some of them a bit furrier than others, make this novel Katrina Kittle’s most insightful yet. Don’t miss it!” — Lesley Kagen, New York Times bestselling author of Tomorrow River

 “A marvelous page-turner, a story of an unexpected heartbreak and the unexpected blessings that result. Loveable, fallible characters (both two-legged and four) will have you cheering their explorations of love in all its many forms and life in all its messy glory. I didn’t want to put this book down!” — Ellen Baker, author of Keeping the House

 “[Katrina Kittle] takes life in the ‘burbs seriously enough to mine its traumas, dramas and personalities for the rich literary possibilities that lots of other writers have passed on, or missed.” — Dayton Daily News

Buy this book from your favorite locally owned and operated Midwest independent bookseller!
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 MBA BOOKSELLER INFORMATION

Booksellers — Earn up to $100 in rebates from MBA for promoting THE BLESSINGS OF THE ANIMALS!
Midwest Connections rebate form for THE BLESSINGS OF THE ANIMALS (PDF) 

THE BLESSINGS OF THE ANIMALS is available from HarperCollins or from your preferred wholesaler.  Be sure to contact the publisher for more information about this title. 

If you are interested in scheduling an event, interview, or book club event or phoner with author Katrina Kittle, please contact  Erica Barmash, Harper Perennial, erica.barmash@harpercollins.com.  Katrina Kittle lives in Ohio, so she is available on only a limited basis.

MBA and Harper Perennial would love to have your comments and reviews for this Midwest Connections Pick. Please send them to us so we can share your endorsements with your fellow MBA booksellers and with your customers!

DOWNLOADS

Please download these PDF files and print out the Twin Cities Live “What to Read Next” sign and shelf-talkers to use with your displays of these books.

SIGN FOR AUGUST 16 FEATURED BOOKS (PDF)
SHELF-TALKERS FOR AUGUST 16 FEATURED BOOKS (PDF)

Note:  The shelf-talkers need to be printed on card stock and cut apart along crop marks. Each book has its own shelf-talker, which is double so that it can be used either on the shelf under the book, or as a slip card standing up from the top of the book like a large bookmark.

• Full-color sign/flyer (PDF)
• Full-color shelf-talker (PDF)
• Reading Group Guide  (PDF)
• Author photo (JPG)
• Book cover photo (JPG)
• Midwest Connections rebate form for THE BLESSINGS OF THE ANIMALS (PDF) – coming
• Midwest Connections Generic Display Materials

ABOUT THE BOOK

 This is Katrina Kittle’s first paperback original, but her books have performed extremely well in paperback—with The Kindness of Strangers (2007) now topping 95,000 copies sold.

 The Blessings of Animals includes a P.S. section featuring essays from the author about her travels and about the inspiration for the novel, as well as an excerpt from her novel The Kindness of Strangers.

 Veterinarian Cami Anderson has hit a rough patch in her life. Stymied by her recent divorce, she is on a quest to unravel the secret ingredients of a happy, long-lasting marriage. Are today’s wedding vows realistic, practical, and applicable? Or is the entire institution of marriage outdated and obsolete?

Surrounded by several couples approaching different milestones in their relationships, Cami reflects on the deepest meanings of love and partnership. As her parents prepare to celebrate their 50th anniversary, her brother and his partner find themselves legally blocked from marriage. Her best friend and soon-to-be-ex-sister-in-law have become newly engaged, while her teenaged daughter’s romance begins to develop its own complications. And now Cami’s ex-husband and two other men are becoming tangled in her own post-marriage love life.

Amidst this circus of relationships, Cami begins to make sense of marriage’s great mysteries-and disconnects. Surrounded by a humorous gang of animals-an angry horse, an escape-artist goat, and a three-legged cat-Cami also comes to terms with her own divorce as she learns the lessons of forgiveness, adaptation, and joy that help her master the art of simply moving on.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Katrina Kittle is the author of Traveling Light, Two Truths and a Lie, and The Kindness of Strangers, which received the 2006 Great Lakes Book Award for Fiction. She graduated with two degrees from Ohio University—a BA in English and a BS in Education. Kittle helped found the All Children’s Theatre in Washington Township, Ohio, and previously taught theater and English to middle schoolers at the Miami Valley School in Dayton. She has also worked as a veterinary assistant. After a year of traveling, she recently returned to Dayton to begin working full-time on her fifth novel.