A moving story about two very different sisters, and a love letter to childhood, growing up, and the power of imagination—from the bestselling author ofEveryone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead and Interesting Facts About Space.
Sigrid hates working at the Dollar Pal but having always resisted the idea of growing up into the trappings of adulthood, she did not graduate high school, preferring to roam the streets of her small town with her best friend Greta, the only person in the world who ever understood her. Her older sister Margit is baffled and frustrated by Sigrid’s inability to conform to the expectations of polite society.
But Sigrid’s detachment veils a deeper turmoil and sensitivity. She’s haunted by the pains of her past—from pretending her parents were swamp monsters when they shook the floorboards with their violent arguments to grappling with losing Greta’s friendship to the opioid epidemic ravaging their town. As Margit sets out to understand Sigrid and the secrets she has hidden, both sisters, in their own time and way, discover that reigniting their shared childhood imagination is the only way forward.
What unfolds is an unforgettable story of two sisters finding their way back to each other, and a celebration of that transcendent, unshakable bond.
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“We Could Be Rats is for the townies, the freaks, the dykes, the dropouts—all of us who think the world would be better if we evaporated, if we traded working at the Dollar Pal and hating ourselves for living the good life as rodents at a carnival. Emily Austin’s signature dark humor and sharp observations into the human condition grip and entertain while a series of suicide notes unravel the truths behind addiction, bitter family fights, and anonymous bomb threats against a certain conservative politician in small town Canada. There are no caricatures here, just me, you, and everyone we know. It’s Alice Monro for depressed lesbians, and it made me weep before it gave me a hug.” — MARISSA HIGGINS, author of A Good Happy Girl
Overall rating: 4.3333335 / 5 from 6 reviews.
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Emotional read
"Good emotional read. Amazing character development and thought provoking commentary about society and the idea of fitting in."
— Alina (5/5)
Review
"I enjoyed the realism of the book and the troubles the characters go through. As an eldest daughter, I really appreciated the perspective of a little sister. It absolutely broke my heart but some parts got off track and took me out of the story a bit. Otherwise I really enjoyed it!"
— Kayla (3/5)
Emily Austin is amazing
"Heartbreaking, funny, relatable, I loved this book!"
— Rox78 (5/5)
I would also like to be a rat
"I flew through this in a day. I love an unreliable narrator and I couldn't stop reading because I wanted to get to the bottom of it all to answer the big question of why. The slight plot twist knocked the wind out of me. Very touching depiction of a challenging relationship between two very different siblings. It had chapters I cried the whole way through."
— Finn (5/5)
Emily Austin consistently writes beautiful books
"Every time I pick up a book written by Austin, I know that I have to make time to read it all in one sitting."
— Bee H. (5/5)
Heartbreaking at times
"This story deals with a complicated relationship between sisters and also deals with suicide. I found the first half of the book's format interesting, as it was formatted as suicide letters. The second half was fine, but it dragged a bit. I'm looking forward to the next Emily R. Austin novel! #IndigoEmployee"
— Jf00 (3/5)
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Published date: Jan 28, 2025
Language: English
No. of Pages: 256
Publisher: Scribner Canada
ISBN: 9781668085516
Dimensions:
5.5" W x
0.7" L x
8.375" H
Emily Austin is the author of We Could Be Rats, Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead, Interesting Facts About Space, and the poetry collection Gay Girl Prayers. She was born in Ontario, Canada, and received two writing grants from the Canadian Council for the Arts. She studied English literature and library science at Western University. She currently lives in Ottawa, in the territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation.
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