The Wild Cats of Piran

In The Wild Cats of Piran, Scott Alexander Young fashions a thoroughly absorbing cosmos of cats--tracing the (nine) lives of the feral felines that inhabit a charming town on Slovenia's Adriatic coast. He takes us through centuries in the life of the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas, from Naples to Piran (present-day Slovenia). From a pirate of centuries past named Edward England (and his parrot, Desmond) to the ghost of a violinist named Giuseppe Tartini, from memories of one cat's former life on the Hungarian plains to witty observations about the technology-driven lives of weird twenty-first century teenagers and about human beings' complex relationships with their furry little friends, this fascinating tale comes together in page after page of evocative prose. Will the beautiful Queen Felicia (an Oriental Shorthair from Naples)--the leader of the wild cats of Piran--reunite with her onetime love, Leopold (a Japanese Bobtail from Vienna)? Will the Hungarian tabby cat Magyar manage to rescue his ladylove (Beyza the Angora cat) from the “captivity” in a villa considerably more luxurious than the cemetery crypt in which the wild cats of Piran make their home? Last but not least, is the German shepherd Thor really the cats' fiercest enemy, as he seems--or, once the cats have faced off with their other foes, the rats of Piran, might he reveal another side of his personality? Age-appropriate for just about anyone from nine to ninety-nine who is apt to bewitched by charming Old World settings and who, yes, doesn't hate cats, The Wild Cats of Piran is a magical, unforgettable read.