Mary Kubica has written some dark stories. Her first novel, “The Good Girl,” was about a one-night stand gone horribly wrong. Her second, “Pretty Baby,” featured a young woman with a tragic past. Others involve kidnapping, murder and sinister secrets. Kubica’s ninth (and newest) book, “She’s Not Sorry,” ushers readers into a beeping, buzzing intensive care unit, where a patient fights for her life after jumping off a bridge. Or was she pushed?
One might expect the creator of such tales to be morose and cynical, but Kubica is a cheery Midwesterner who fosters kittens in her free time. During a phone interview, she spoke about her own felines (Tabitha, Zoe and Alabama) with an enthusiasm another author might have for, say, a first edition of a favorite book. To be clear, Kubica loves dogs too, but she contends that cats are the ideal companions for people in her line of work. “They’re so independent,” she said. “They don’t need walks. They’re not always jumping on you. For the most part, they’re calm, peaceful animals.”
While writing her latest best seller, Kubica hosted more than a dozen kittens from A.D.O.P.T. Pet Shelter in Naperville, Ill. (The average litter stays for about five weeks, until its members are old enough to be adopted; hence, frequent turnover.) First, there was the group named after the Addams Family (Pugsley, Morticia, Gomez and Cousin Itt), followed by the “Friends” crew (Monica, Rachel, Phoebe and Chandler) and then the cheese-inspired siblings (Brie, Cheddar, Goat, Feta, Pepper Jack and Mozzarella).
“Oh boy, they start to blur,” Kubica said. But she had no trouble remembering Maggie, the cat who kept her company while she worked on her first book: “The kids would go down for a nap and I would try and write. Maggie would lay on my lap and I am absolutely sure that her being on my lap and me not being able to get up is what kept me writing.”
Kubica started fostering cats after Maggie died. Volunteers from the animal shelter now come to her local book signings, and her two teenagers have helped care for several generations of Chicago-area felines. It’s been a positive experience for the whole family, especially the chance to watch mother cats patiently nudge and encourage their offspring until they’re ready to enter the wider world. “I cannot figure out how they figure out how to do all this,” Kubica said. “There’s no manual.”
If you think about it, the process isn’t so different from writing books.
