A Cat at the End of the World – Robert Perišić

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A Cat at the End of the World by Robert Perišić is an imaginative historical novel told with the rhythm and symbolism of a fable. Moving effortlessly across time and space, the story connects the ancient Mediterranean with the contemporary world through three extraordinary perspectives: a runaway slave, a mysterious bodiless spirit known as the Scatterwind, and Miu, an Egyptian cat whose journey becomes the emotional and philosophical center of the novel.

Miu belongs to one of the earliest generations of domesticated cats. Through her story, Perišić offers an unusual perspective on the relationship between humans and animals and on the civilizations humans have built around them. The novel reaches back to the world of ancient Syracuse, where migration, slavery, warfare, trade, and colonization shape the lives of its characters, while the Scatterwind moves beyond the boundaries of ordinary time and connects their experiences with the present day.

At the heart of the novel is a simple but profound question: what does the world look like when human history is viewed from outside the human perspective? Miu’s journey allows Perišić to examine the consequences of language, violence, commerce, territorial expansion, and the gradual construction of societies. Animals are not merely background figures in this story; they become witnesses to the transformations brought about by human civilization.

The novel combines historical fiction, mythology, philosophy, and fable, creating a narrative that is both expansive and intimate. Perišić uses the ancient Mediterranean not simply as a historical setting, but as a place where questions about humanity, power, freedom, and coexistence can be explored. The movement between different periods of history gives the novel a timeless quality and allows events from the distant past to resonate with the contemporary world.

The story was inspired by Robert Perišić’s time on the Adriatic island of Vis, the site of ancient Issa. This connection to the island and its layered history gives the novel a distinctive Mediterranean atmosphere and anchors its imaginative journey in a real place shaped by centuries of human movement and cultural exchange.

Robert Perišić was born in Split, Croatia, in 1969 and moved to Zagreb in 1988, where he studied Croatian literature. He has worked as a freelance writer across several genres, including literary criticism, poetry, plays, and fiction. His novels Our Man in Iraq and No-Signal Area have been widely translated and internationally acclaimed. His short-story collection Horror and Huge Expenses was also published by Sandorf Passage.

A Cat at the End of the World is a distinctive work of contemporary European fiction for readers interested in historical novels, ancient Mediterranean history, animals in literature, mythology, slavery, colonization, migration, and philosophical fiction. Through the story of one remarkable cat, Robert Perišić creates a wide-ranging meditation on how humans and animals have shared – and transformed – the world across centuries.