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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.