Mala's Cat

June 1, 2022

Holocaust survivor Kacenberg's suspenseful memoir comes to life through Kristin Atherton's skillful voicing. Preteen Mala watches as life in Poland is upended by the Germans. To survive, Mala removes her yellow star and strikes out alone with a stray cat she names Malach. She performs farm and housework, sleeps in ditches, and lies about her heritage. At the war's end, she relocates to a hostel in England, where she adjusts to life after the Holocaust. The production closes with Mala's daughter reading a Yiddish prayer taught to her by Mala and an English translation read by the narrator. Atherton's British accent adds punch to the crisp reading that is cool, aloof, stark, and on edge, often at the same time. The precarious nature of the times is evident in the tense, grave tone of the recording. Emotions are understated, with slight vocal nuances for character conversation. Yiddish, Hebrew, and German word pronunciations appear authentic. VERDICT Although the recording is filled with evidence of edits, the strength of this strong story will keep listeners engaged.--Stephanie Bange

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from November 1, 2021
In this gorgeous debut, Kacenberg shares her harrowing and courageous story of surviving the Holocaust. In 1942, after returning from a trip to find food outside her Polish hometown of Tarnogrod, 15-year-old Kacenberg was told by a neighbor that her family had been rounded up for deportation by the Nazis. “If I were to survive,” she realized, “I would have to behave like a grown-up and fend for myself.” Accompanied by a stray cat she named Malach (the Hebrew word for angel), Kacenberg went into hiding, and, as she writes, Malach lived up to her name, emanating “a shield of protection” around her, even once clawing the face of a German man who threatened them. Blonde, blue-eyed, and resourceful, Kacenberg eventually took the alias of Stefania Iwkiewicz and managed to evade capture by convincing the Nazis she was a Christian and escaping to Germany, where she lived until the war ended. As she devastatingly describes, she wasn’t spared from the war’s unimaginable atrocities, including the killing of her entire family. Still, against all odds, Kacenberg lived to serve as a witness for those who were less fortunate, eventually marrying a fellow war survivor in 1949 and raising five children in the United Kingdom. This moving account is a welcome addition to the canon of WWII memoirs.