The Cat Who Covered the World: The Adventures Of Henrietta And Her Foreign Correspondent » (1 TOUCHSTO)

Christopher S. Wren worked for The New York Times for more than twenty-eight years, including seventeen years overseas as its bureau chief in Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, Ottawa, and Johannesburg. He is the author of three previous books. He, his wife, and their two cats now divide their time between New York and Vermont.

Henrietta was an ordinary New York City cat until she ventured overseas with foreign correspondent Christopher S. Wren and his wife and children. Over seventeen years and tens of thousands of miles, she became a plucky, indispensable companion for the reporter as he covered world events in Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, Ottawa, and Johannesburg.

Wren's often hilarious and sometimes poignant account of an American family's adventures crisscrossing the globe shows them coping with chaos in faraway places — always with the help of their ever-resourceful feline. The result is a charming tale about a spunky, curious pet who earned the right to be ranked among the world's most widely traveled cats.

Publishers Weekly

New York Times editor Wren (Hacks) spins a cutesy tale of his 18 years as a foreign correspondent, which he shared with his cat, Henrietta (as well as wife Jacqueline and children Celia and Chris). A month-old ball of gray fluff delivered by a fellow newswoman on Christmas Eve (with a bottle of Scotch to secure the deal), Henrietta became a full-fledged member of this globe-trotting family, following the author to his posts (Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, Ottawa, New York and Johannesburg, with stopovers and vacations in Italy, Japan and Vermont), winning hearts on airplanes and in hotels, cadging snacks from shopkeepers and diplomats. On board for Anwar Sadat's famous pact with Israel, the slow crumbling of the Soviet Union and the release of Nelson Mandela from prison, the eight-pound New York tabby has witnessed international dramas few humans have. But for all her frequent flier miles, Henrietta's actual exploits differ little from the average house cat's--they just occur against exotic backdrops. For instance, when Henrietta shows her affection to an official houseguest by delivering a dead mouse (the feline version of passing the hors d'oeuvres), she makes her presentation to the Pakistani ambassador. When she finally died at the ripe old age of 18--well past 90 in human years--it was after being stalked by ibises in Johannesburg. Sometimes amusing and sweet but mostly slight, Wren's book is purely for extreme cat devot es. Others will find it as cloying as a hairball. (Nov.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.