In a series of captivating, interconnected vignettes, we meet the cats that have slinked and bullied and charmed their way into Doris Lessing's life: the farm and feral cats of her South African childhood, the London house cats, the city strays (such as Rufus, the new addition to this gallery), the prowling toms, and the "kittens, kittens, showers of kittens." She tells their stories - their exploits, rivalries, terrors and affections, ancient gestures and learned behaviors - with visit simplicity. And she tells, as well, the story of herself in relation to cats: the way the animals affect her and she them, and the communication that grows possible between them, a language of gesture and mood and desire as eloquent, finally, as the spoken word.