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 *