My Beloved Monster: Masha, the Half-Wild Rescue Cat Who Rescued Me

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.

"One of the most powerful and beautiful grief narratives ever written, including all the memoirs about people."--Kirkus Reviews

"In writing that is as beautiful as it is unguarded, Caleb Carr tells the surprising and deeply affecting story of life with his remarkable cat Masha. It's a book that will upend your assumptions about love, pain, commitment, cats, and probably the author himself. The whole experience, as a reader, is one I could not have imagined and roundly recommend."--Mary Roach, author of Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law 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.


Publisher: Little Brown and Company
Published: 04/16/2024
Pages: 352
ISBN: 9780316503600


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 11/01/2023 pg. 16
Publishers Weekly 02/26/2024
Booklist 03/15/2024 pg. 28

About the Author
Caleb Carr is the critically acclaimed and bestselling author of The Alienist, The Angel of Darkness, The Lessons of Terror, and Surrender, New York, among numerous other novels. He holds a degree in military and diplomatic history and has taught at Bard College. His journalism has been published in The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. A native New Yorker, Carr makes his home in Cherry Plain, New York.