Puss in Books

Superpuss Bootsy Adelman

Harry the Cat
'Oprah Schmopra'

Washington superpuss, Bootsy Adelman thinks she's a cat above the rest when it comes to celebrity status. For Bootsy has been featured in a book along with her person, PR supremo Marc Adelman; and her English cousin, Harry the Cat from Manchester (aged 20) is quietly gnashing his teeth - at least, the ones he has left. So what's all this about? When Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of former US Democratic Senator John Edwards wrote her best-selling book, Saving Graces (Broadway Books 2006), she included Bootsy among the many stories she told about her experiences on the campaign trail with John, who was the VP nominee with John Kerry in 2004. Said Marc, who worked very closely with the couple from 2002-05, 'I used to bring Bootsy up to the Edwards' children all the time, so we were both mentioned in the book. It was a New York Times best seller and when Oprah had Elizabeth on the show, she told her that she'd read every word of it.' So Oprah knows about Bootsy too huh? Harry the Cat is now gnawing his left paw. Elizabeth's second book, Resilience (Broadway Books 2009) was also a best seller and she's become a high profile speaker with the media in her own right. Saving Graces describes her life growing up in a military family; her years as a mother, when she had a child every decade from the 1970s to the 2000s; the tragic death of her teenage son Wade in 1996; her support of her husbands' campaigns for Senate, the Presidency and Vice Presidency and her fight with breast cancer, which was diagnosed in 2004. What's significant is the value of support she received from the people around her in the community and the strength she drew from strangers. Think about that, Harry!