A cat sneaks into a
small Palestinian house on the West Bank that has been commandeered by two Israeli
soldiers. The house seems empty, until the cat realizes that a little boy is
hiding beneath the floorboards.
Should she help him?
After all, she’s just a cat.
Or is she?
It turns out that this particular cat was once
a regular North American girl, one who wasn't used to thinking about anyone but herself. That was before she died and came back to life as a cat, in a
place with a whole different set of rules for survival.
While the premise of a teenager being
reincarnated as a cat seemed bizarre at first the author has cleverly developed
an engrossing story narrated by a cat/teen. The story alternates between
her American girl life and her cat life in a conflict zone.
As a girl reincarnated as a cat she still thinks like human, but her behaviour
as a cat and the response of the people around her to a cat, means she is
uniquely placed to experience the unfolding drama of the situation she finds
herself in.
This
is a story of amazing complexity for such a short book (142 pages) and it is a
very rewarding read. Highly recommended.