Customer Reviews

Lighthouse, the Cat, and the Sea, The: A Tropical Tale

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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I thoroughly loved this book and am not normally a cat book fan but this is an utterly charming story of cats living in the Key West lighthouse at the turn of the century. It's like some beautiful fairy tale but it's still a very serious book. Wow! This was like the perfect book to curl up with on a rainy night.

A seemingly simple tale, but then it surprises one with the depth of emotion and wisdom shown by a scraggly ship's kitten and later, Mrs. Moore, a well loved, grown cat. The imagery is haunting, especially of the shipwreck and the ensuing loss and then redemption. I read this fairly quickly after touring the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse and museum in Florida. This book really left a deep impression on me as to how the lighthouse keepers lived their lives around the sea. But it was Mrs. Moore, the lighthouse cat, who really stole the show.

I think I re-read this book about once a year. And about every month or so I hope to find a new Leigh Rutledge book listed here at Amazon.com. Set in Key West, this is a wonderful tale about the lighthouse keeper and his cat. Mr. Rutledge has a long history of writing wonderful tales about cats, but in my opinion this is the masterpiece. I only hope he is somewhere writing more.