We Could Be Rats
A Novel
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected 28 Jan 2025
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- $21.99
Publisher Description
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 of Everyone 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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Austin (Interesting Facts About Space) chronicles the complicated relationship between two sisters in her nuanced latest. The novel's first half takes the form of multiple drafts of a suicide note, written by 20-year-old Sigrid and mostly addressed to her older sister, Margrit. Over the course of the letters, which also address their parents and Sigrid's late friend Greta, Austin shapes the story of the sisters' upbringing and divergent paths. The high-achieving Margrit earns approval from their parents, who often bicker in front of the girls. While Margrit is in college, Sigrid, a lesbian who feels out of place in their small town, drops out of high school, experiments with drugs, and often hallucinates while working as a cashier at the local dollar store, a condition that causes her to believe she has early-onset dementia. Her despair is also fueled by her estrangement from Greta, with whom she took OxyContin and who became addicted. The book's second half, which begins with a twist, is narrated by Margrit, who reflects on Sigrid's troubled life and the guilt she feels over leaving her sister behind. Though the story meanders, Austin successfully untangles the sisters' complex relationship. It's a distinctive character portrait.
