Thanks to a helpful visitor to the site, I have been informed that a new Caleb Carr book has recently been announced. A personal memoir, My Beloved Monster: Masha, the Half-Wild Rescue Cat who Rescued Me, is set for publication on April 16, 2024 by Little, Brown and Company. The blurb released on the publisher’s website can be found below:
The #1 bestselling author of The Alienist, Caleb Carr, tells the extraordinary story of Masha, a half-wild rescue cat who fought off a bear, tackled Caleb like a linebacker—and bonded with him as tightly as any cat and human possibly can.
Caleb Carr has had special relationships with cats since he was a young boy in a turbulent household, famously peopled by the founding members of the Beat Generation, where his steadiest companions were the adopted cats that lived with him both in the city and the country. As an adult, he has had many close 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 enter into the most extraordinary of all of his cat pairings: Masha, a Siberian Forest cat who had been abandoned as a kitten, and was languishing in a shelter when Caleb met her. She had hissed and fought off all previous carers and potential adopters, but somehow, she chose Caleb as her savior.
For the seventeen years that followed, Caleb and Masha were inseparable. Masha ruled the house and the extensive, dangerous surrounding fields and forests. When she was hurt, only Caleb could help her. When he suffered long-standing physical ailments, Masha knew what to do. Caleb’s life-long study of the literature of cat behavior, and his years of experience with previous cats, helped him decode much of Masha’s inner life. But their bond went far beyond academic studies and experience. The story of Caleb and Masha is an inspiring and life-affirming relationship for readers of all backgrounds and interests—a love story like no other.
Though it may not be the Alienist novel some fans might have been expecting, I’m sure this heartfelt work will still be appreciated by the animal lovers among Caleb’s readership. The memoir is available for pre-order on Amazon and other retailers now.
Thank you very much for posting this news. Very glad to hear of this new book, and will look forward to purchasing a copy next year. Thank you again!
Speaking for myself, I hope Mr. Carr is doing better, physically, but nobody reads this site for updates about his dead cat, Masha. What’s going on with the third “Alienist” book that was supposed to be out 2 years ago?
We would all love an update on the new Alienist book, but, alas, we will have to wait. Thankfully, for fans of the author, this site isn’t only dedicated to his Alienist books, and I check this site often for all works related to this author. For those who enjoy all of Caleb Carr’s work, in addition to his new book about his beloved companion, he recently wrote an article on tanks – Why Western Tanks May Be Wasted – https://smallwarsjournal.com/author/caleb-carr. This site is extremely thorough, but one aspect of Caleb Carr’ writing that isn’t documented here is his introductions/forwards for books he loves, such as the Mysterious Island and reviews for books, such as The Poe Shadow and Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson. The owner of this site has mentioned many times that they are busy, and I thank them for the level of detail that this site offers. If there is time to list the books Caleb Carr reviews and writes introductions for, I will be the first to read it!
Thanks for the kind words. It’s been difficult to keep the site as up to date as I would like in the last couple of years due to my own health, plus keeping up with work and my personal writing projects. That said, I do have a page that provides links to Caleb Carr’s other publications and reviews (https://17thstreet.net/caleb-carr/other-publications/), but it has been some time since this was updated; if you know of links that should be added, do feel free to get in touch. I did, for a time, keep up a list of the introductions he has contributed, but if memory serves, the list turned out to be too long to keep updated!
I’ve seen that a cover has now been released for this new memoir, which is lovely. I will make an update to the site reflecting this in the coming days.
I am sorry to hear you are having health issues. I hope things get better. My apologies for not remembering the Reviews section of this site – I did read those quite some time ago:) The reviews I was referring to are ones that he wrote just a few sentences for; I just stumble across them while trying to find something to read. But, yes, it seems that there are many, and it would be difficult to keep up with! Thank you again for this site; it is very informative and appreciated. Take care!
This was a remarkable end note to Caleb Carr’s writings.
I have known and loved many cats in my 71 years, and living as I do, about 25 miles from where Caleb and Masha made their home, I fully appreciate the dangers she faced.
I could not put it down.
So very different from his other works, but so unmistakeably his voice.
Rest in peace, Caleb and Masha.