WE COULD BE RATS

From the bestselling author of Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead and Interesting Facts About Space, this is a novel about a moving story of two very different sisters, told in attempts at a suicide note, in a love letter to childhood, growing up, and the power of imagination.

Sigrid really doesn't want to inconvenience anyone upon the discovery of her suicide note. She understands and appreciates the gravity of a young person's death, but she just couldn't bring herself to accept the realities of growing up and leaving behind the blissful comfort of childhood when she could always escape into her imagination. As a 21-year-old Dollar Pal employee who barely graduated high school, living in the small town she was never able to escape, there's not much for Sigrid to do to pass the time besides running the streets with her best friend Greta, the only person in the world who truly understands her. She was never so close with her older sister Margit, who cares way more for other people than Sigrid ever could, and is no doubt the favorite child in her parents' eyes, and Sigrid's. After many attempts to perfect her suicide note, the root of Sigrid's inner turmoil becomes more clear, from dodging the swamp monsters her parents become when they shake the floor boards with their violent arguments to grappling with losing Greta's friendship to the all to real epidemic ravaging their town and the people within it. As Margit comes to terms with everything Sigrid held so close to her chest, the only way forward is to remember the few days that shine through with joy amongst the many that didn't, to reach out to those who cared all along even when never asked, and to reignite that unparalleled feeling of delight when relishing in ones own childhood imagination, so easily forgotten amongst the pain and truths of today. Emily R. Austin is the author of 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.