A Cat at the End of the World

“Because something is happening, in the distance, approaching from above and below. Weird holes are appearing. I’m often drawn by a void. And that might be the reason I have started to speak.” So says the “Scatterwind,” the narrator in Robert Perišic’s latest novel, A Cat at the Edge of the World. Defying the realms of time and space, the Scatterwind is a knowing presence throughout this story, which spans from the time of ancient Sparta to our contemporary era. Throughout the book, the Scatterwind is drawn to cats, as these animals living on the border of the wild and the domestic, seem to sense the presence that also straddles modes of existence.

Perišic’s work has long had an uncanny knack for dynamic, richly layered narratives. With A Cat at the Edge of the World, his unique sensitivity for dropping readers into the point of view of both bodiless spirits and animals, Perišic opens a new door into the historical perspective of how human culture developed over the course of thousands of years with this profound novel that will further solidify his reputation as one of the most exciting and important contemporary writers, not only in Croatia, but in all of Europe.