My Life as a Rat

My Life as a Rat
Joyce Carol Oates

A brilliant and thought-provoking novel about family, loyalty and betrayalOnce I’d been Daddy’s favourite. Before something terrible happened.Violet Rue is the baby of the seven Kerrigan children and adores her big brothers. What’s more, she knows that a family protects its own. To go outside the family – to betray the family – is unforgiveable. So when she overhears a conversation not meant for her ears and discovers that her brothers have committed a heinous crime, she is torn between her loyalty to her family and her sense of justice. The decision she takes will change her life for ever.Exploring racism, misogyny, community, family, loyalty, sexuality and identity, this is a dark story with a tense and propulsive atmosphere – Joyce Carol Oates at her very best.

Copyright (#ulink_3b62c035-84fe-5922-be2c-527049cd6c79)

4th Estate

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.4thEstate.co.uk (http://www.4thEstate.co.uk)

This eBook first published in Great Britain by 4th Estate in 2019

Copyright © The Ontario Review, Inc. 2019

Cover photograph © Getty Images

Joyce Carol Oates asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Information on previously published material appears here (#litres_trial_promo).

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins

Source ISBN: 9780008339647

Ebook Edition © April 2019 ISBN: 9780008339661

Version: 2019-05-04

Dedication (#ulink_3b62c035-84fe-5922-be2c-527049cd6c79)

To my friend Elaine Showalter,

and to my husband and first reader, Charlie Gross

Contents

Cover (#ufdaef3bc-d7c7-5e60-a59c-da121ac1fde4)

Title page (#uc3810183-088c-573d-b7b8-684d935bc3e6)

Copyright (#u65144f6b-c23d-515a-99b7-d8861990d610)

Dedication (#ub7022a1a-1fc0-5c7d-9fda-a54dfa91f77f)

I (#ufd451ee4-ffc2-5b24-9ce7-533505286ade)

The Rat (#u563e660c-5b0c-5f4c-858b-25dcaad6ad67)

The Omen: November 2, 1991 (#ucbc997af-8d50-5d26-a878-00c58a940c51)

Disowned (#u33636f02-c1fe-5045-b7aa-8b8af6ac49a9)

The Happy Childhood (#ud65fb9bf-9a0f-5e8f-a28a-ac1827781e37)

Best Kisses! (#ufdd4ca49-c9c4-5377-b5d8-e803a4133b7b)

Obituary (#ue9ef5787-98d7-5491-a57e-a6488d429899)

“Boys Will Be Boys” (#u087099b8-4642-5164-9f68-e1a7fbffe1aa)

To Die For (#u013d892c-3af8-5b14-aa36-cf78e39a9f18)

“Accident” (#u139ad215-e9be-5e07-8ee1-b5645b995cc7)

Louisville Slugger (#u295604fe-3042-59fa-b89a-997c9bc06645)

The Little Sister (#u0ac288e2-c955-5942-b428-29ab05b10c3e)

The Promise (#u372ce898-c11c-5564-899a-2877cefda154)

The Siege (#uba2ce872-0b55-50c0-8945-02b3a3025782)

Because … (#u3dfc5992-cfe6-5b1c-ada2-a137695da4c2)

The Rescue (#ud1635568-c01f-53d8-b2cc-2b794e419694)

The Secret I (#u47e7b2c1-7a80-52fa-9223-726b75161b78)

The Secret II (#litres_trial_promo)

Final Confession (#litres_trial_promo)

“Dear Christ What Did Violet Do Now” (#litres_trial_promo)

The Revelation (#litres_trial_promo)

The Bat (#litres_trial_promo)

Safe House (#litres_trial_promo)

Runaway (#litres_trial_promo)