My Beloved Monster

"The most brilliant feline portrait in literary history." -People Magazine
(Book of the Week)

The #1 bestselling author of The Alienist tells the extraordinary story of
Masha, a half-wild rescue cat who fought off a bear, tackled Caleb like a
linebacker--and bonded with him as tightly as any cat and human possibly can.

"Dares us to take a journey into love and pain . . . My Beloved Monster is a
love story and a requiem." -Wall Street Journal

"Excellent…Worth the emotional investment, and the tissues you will need by
the end, to spend time with a writer and cat duo as extraordinary as Masha and
Carr." --Washington Post Book World

Caleb Carr has had special relationships with cats since he was a young boy in
a turbulent household, famously peopled by the founding members of the Beat
Generation, where his steadiest companions were the adopted cats that lived
with him both in the city and the country. As an adult, he has had many close
feline companions, with relationships that have outlasted most of his human
ones. But only after building a three-story home in rural, upstate New York
did he enter into the most extraordinary of all of his cat pairings: Masha, a
Siberian Forest cat who had been abandoned as a kitten, and was languishing in
a shelter when Caleb met her. She had hissed and fought off all previous
carers and potential adopters, but somehow, she chose Caleb as her savior.

For the seventeen years that followed, Caleb and Masha were inseparable. Masha
ruled the house and the extensive, dangerous surrounding fields and forests.
When she was hurt, only Caleb could help her. When he suffered long-standing
physical ailments, Masha knew what to do. Caleb's life-long study of the
literature of cat behavior, and his years of experience with previous cats,
helped him decode much of Masha's inner life. But their bond went far beyond
academic studies and experience. The story of Caleb and Masha is an inspiring
and life-affirming relationship for readers of all backgrounds and interests--
a love story like no other.