THE CAT WHO ESCAPED FROM STEERAGE

A reconstruction of one family's experiences during their two-week steamship passage to New York in the year that ""Halley's Comet was seen"" (1910)--events loosely strung together by nine-year-old Chanah's unsuccessful attempt to conceal the cat she smuggled aboard in Marseilles. The privations in steerage, contrasted to the luxuries of more privileged classes, are described as bearable inconveniences. The immigrants represent an ethnic range: a Russian grandfather dies en route; a German woman gives birth to a baby the captain declares an American citizen; Chanah's family is from Poland. There's some poignant suspense as she proves to immigration officials that her deaf cousin is intelligent and can communicate, persuading them to bend rules and allow him in; but it's the many authentic details and lively writing that give the story real interest.