Mala's Cat: The moving and unforgettable true story of one girl's survival during the Holocaust

Description

A remarkable holocaust memoir about an unlikely friendship between a young girl and a stray cat and survival against the odds Alone in a forest with only a cat for company, this is the deeply moving true story of one little girl's remarkable survival in the shadow of the Holocaust. Twelve-year-old Mala Szorer has no choice but to give up her childhood. In return she stands a chance of survival and so, she decides to walk tall, towards freedom, towards life. Growing up in the Polish village of Tarnogrod on the fringes of a deep pine forest, gives Mala the happiest childhood she could have hoped for. But, as the German invasion begins, her beloved village becomes a ghetto and her family and friends reduced to starvation, she takes matters into her own hands, bravely removes her yellow star and sneaks out to the surrounding villages to barter for food. It is on her way back that she sees her loved ones rounded up for deportation, and receives a smuggled letter from her sister warning her to stay away. With only her cat, Malach, and the strength of the stories taught by her family, she walks away from her village and everything she holds dear into the dangerous unknown. Malach becomes her family, her protector, her only respite from painful loneliness, and reminder to stay hopeful even when faced with unfathomable darkness. With her guardian angel by her side, Mala finds a way to survive against the odds.

Mala Kacenberg (nee Szorer) was born in Tarnogrod, Poland in 1927. As World War II broke out, Mala found herself having to fend for herself at the tender age of 12, eventually escaping the ghetto and surviving in the forest, witnessing the horrors unfold in front of her. Surviving by her wits, courage and the help of a guardian angel (her cat Malach), she was the sole survivor of her family. Mala immigrated to London with other Jewish refugees after the war, where she raised a large beautiful family, living long enough to be blessed with many grandchildren. She enjoyed running a small Bed & Breakfast, treating all her guests as part of her family.

A remarkable tale of survival, in which Jewish life in pre-war Poland and the atrocities of the Holocaust appear through an almost dreamlike lens of childhood memory * Jeremy Dronfield, bestselling author of The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz * This book has a unique spiritual richness * Jewish Tribune * Mala's Cat is fresh, unsentimental and utterly unpredictable... 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 * Julie Orringer for the New York Times * A haunting saga with classic potential * Daisy Styles * In this gorgeous debut, Kacenberg shares her harrowing and courageous story of surviving the Holocaust. This moving account is a welcome addition to the canon of WWII memoirs * Publisher's Weekly * It's an account of astounding courage and resourcefulness . . . The real miracle here is the vitality of Kacenberg's faith and determination * Mail on Sunday * To read Mala's Cat is to enter a dreamscape of horrors seen through innocent eyes * Jewish Chronoicle *