Fromย 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.
โThat the yellow house was thrillingly affordable might have been a warning sign, if Eleanor had known how to read it. But sheโd been desperate. She was sharing a room with her four-year-old daughter, Hattie, in her parentsโ house, and she had to get out.โ ย
From the award-winning novelist and short story writer Maile Meloy,ย Devotion: A Rat Storyย 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 hersโwith every cent and all of her pride and future tied up in the propertyโthe giant rats show themselves. In the yard, in the kitchen, on her daughterโs bed. A walk around the block reveals a decrepit neighboring house where two elderly sisters are feeding and fostering thousands of unusal โpets.โ What has Eleanor done? What action can she possibly take now?
In Meloyโs 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.