The true story of one Jewish girl's survival after her entire family was killed in their Polish village, where a stray cat begins to follow her around and act as a kind of protector.
Despite the difficulties that inhere in Holocaust memoir—we believe we know this history, and its subject matter defies language—Mala’s Cat is fresh, unsentimental and utterly unpredictable. (It is not in any real way about a cat, though cat lovers won’t be disappointed: You, too, will be satisfied by the cleverness, resourcefulness and fidelity of Mala’s feline companion, Malach, whom she fancies to be her guardian angel.) ... This memoir, rescued from obscurity by the efforts of Mala Kacenberg’s five children, should be read and cherished as a new, vital document of a history that must never be allowed to vanish.
... an account of astounding courage and resourcefulness, of unimaginable loss and an unshakeable will to live so that she might bear witness ... Magical though the cat of this unsentimental, profoundly moving book’s title appears—and at points I did wonder if it was more symbolic talisman than actual feline—it plays only a minor role, and the real miracle here is the vitality of Kacenberg’s faith and determination.
In this gorgeous debut, Kacenberg shares her harrowing and courageous story of surviving the Holocaust ... As she devastatingly describes, she wasn’t spared from the war’s unimaginable atrocities ... This moving account is a welcome addition to the canon of WWII memoirs.
