The Cat Who Covered the World: The Adventures of Henrietta and Her Foreign Correspondent

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.)