Doris Lessing recounts the cats that have moved and amused her, from the kittens that overran her childhood home to the wrenching decline of El Magnifico, whose story unfolds in a new essay, appearing here for the first time. Particularly Cats also evokes Lessing's own story in relation to cats, how they affect her and she them, communicating in a language of mood and gesture that all cat-owners will recognize.