My Beloved Monster

<p><b>A NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR</b></p><p><br><b>''Exquisite... a beautiful book, one of the finest meditations on animal companionship that I have ever read'' Kathryn Hughes,<i> Guardian</i><br></b><br><b>An instant <i>New York Times </i>bestseller, this is an unforgettable story about love, loss and redemption from a highly acclaimed writer</b><br><br>Caleb Carr lived with cats ever since he was a young boy. He grew up in a turbulent household ¿ where famous Beat poets, artists and addicts came and went ¿ and his steadiest companions were pets. Since then he had many 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 encounter someone extraordinary: Masha, a Siberian Forest cat who had been abandoned as a kitten and was languishing in a shelter. She had hissed and fought off all previous carers and potential adopters, but somehow, she chose him.<br><br>For the seventeen