Bella

An insightful, humorous, and uplifting story told from a cat’s point of view.


Synopsis (Long Description – up to 4000 characters which is approx. 600-650 words - please no markups such as ‘&’ ampersand):

An insightful, humorous, and uplifting story told from a cat’s point of view.


Bella is a Tabby cat rescued from a garbage dump by Karen, a counsellor. Karen recognises Bella’s calm, affectionate and easy-going temperament, and she becomes Karen’s therapy cat. With her deep purr and caring touch, Bella forms powerful, healing connections with Karen’s distressed clients and with seriously ill patients in hospital.


But, Bella does not work all the time. When not playing or sleeping, she delights in describing her world and the people in it. We discover her thoughts about her owners, sad children and teenagers, family relationships, vets, catteries, dogs, her friend the duck, her dreams and much more.  


Her comfortable life is threatened when Oliver, a tiny, Siamese kitten joins the family. Bella faces the loss of some of her valuable territory in the house and struggles to understand Oliver, a different cat in many ways. When Karen has her first child, Bella encounters her greatest challenge, and discovers her true inner strength.


Joan Zawatzky is a counsellor who was inspired to write Bella – An ordinary cat with an extraordinary gift, by her own cat.



About the Author: 



Joan Zawatzky is a psychologist who brings her experience of over 25 years in counselling individuals, couples and families. Stories of Love Hope and Healing follows Joan Zawatzky’s non-fiction books, Stop Family Anxiety, and Depression: Light at the End of the Tunnel, and her novels, The Scent of Oranges, The Elephant’s Footprint and The Third Generation.