by Caleb Carr
First published 2024
Caleb Carr finds himself face to face with Masha, a half-wild Siberian Forest cat who has terrorized shelter workers and rejected every potential adopter. This abandoned kitten hisses at everyone who approaches her cage. Yet something passes between Caleb and this fierce creature. She chooses him. For seventeen years, they build an unbreakable partnership in his three-story home in upstate New York. Masha commands their rural territory, patrolling dangerous forests where she once drove off a bear. She tackles Caleb with the force of a linebacker when she wants his attention. When illness strikes either of them, they care for each other with an intuition that defies explanation. Caleb draws on his lifelong study of feline behavior and decades of experience with cats, but his bond with Masha transcends academic knowledge. Their relationship becomes something deeper than companionship.
Genres: animals, cats, contemporary, memoir, non-fiction, biography-memoir
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, interspecies-friendship
Setting: New York, Siberia
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
344 pages · Hardcover · Little, Brown and Company