**From one of the most popular and acclaimed story writers of her
generation, a single-volume short story from the author of 2017's Do
Not Become Alarmed, a beautifully packaged palm-sized gift book.
**
"That the yellow house was thrillingly affordable might have been a
warning sign, if Eleanor had known how to read it. But she'd been
desperate. She was sharing a room with her four-year-old daughter,
Hattie, in her parents' house, and she had to get out."
From the award-winning novelist and short story writer Maile Meloy,
Devotion: A Rat Story is an exquisitely unsettling tale about a young
single mother whose new home becomes a kind of nightmare she must
resolve on her own.
Eleanor is in such a rush to move away from her parents that she allows
an imperious realtor to rush her to close on the too-good-to-be-true
home without an inspection. Shortly after the house becomes legally
hers--with every cent and all of her pride and future tied up in the
property--the giant rats show themselves. In the yard, in the kitchen,
on her daughter's bed. A walk around the block reveals a decrepit
neighboring house where two elderly sisters are feeding and fostering
thousands of unusal "pets." What has Eleanor done? What action can she
possibly take now?
In Meloy's characteristically clean, assured style, she captures the
hopes and horrors of domestic life with an element of suspense that
drives the reader feverishly to the end.
