A deftly written novel brimming with magical realist touches, The Feline Plague tells the story of Ira, a Slovenian child who discovers early the cruelty of the adult world—particularly the mistreatment of animals. Ira struggles to reconcile her life with a world in which people are small-minded, the chances for happiness are few, and petty tyrants rule. She takes a job with The Lady, a capitalist entrepreneur who runs the Ark, a pet emporium where she expects “pets will become the new jewelry.” Ira careens into adulthood alongside a fairy-tale cast: her evil mother and sisters, a benevolent grandmother, best friend and alter ego Felipe, a blind painter who moonlights as a window dresser, and a pair of twins so identical their employer thinks they’re one person. Acclaimed novelist Maja Novak masterfully conjures a series of vivid tableaux, setting Ira loose in a world where miniature wooden animals come to life—where jealousy, dreams, and realities unfold as Ira’s rite of passage parallels the backdrop of communism’s dying days and capitalism’s shaky start.
The Feline Plague
