Rat Daniels

An unforgettable coming-of-age story from a stunning new voice in Australian fiction, for those who love Mark Brandi, Favel Parrett and Tim Winton.

I was six, turning seven, and all I really remember is the loneliness, and the lumpy feeling that I was somehow doing everything wrong. And then I met Rat.

Jimmy Quinn is only a boy when he meets Rat Daniels down by the creek. Until that moment, Rat wasn't called Rat, and Jimmy didn't have a best friend. That day at Edens Ridge is the beginning of everything.

Mercurial, wild and rebellious, Rat is thrillingly far from Jimmy's tidy world. But there is a dangerous current in Rat that scares Jimmy sometimes. So do the things that happen in Rat's house: the yelling, the violence and, most of all, Rat's hatred for a man named Davey Callaghan.

As they get older, Rat slips toward the darker elements of the Ridge. Ziplock bags and wadded-up foil balls - there's money to be made, and Rat has a plan that needs money. For the two friends, allegiances will be stretched and intentions questioned. Some days, Jimmy's not sure if he even likes Rat anymore.

Then a devastating fire on the Callaghan farm forces Jimmy to wrestle with his conscience and his memories. People are dead. The police are investigating. Jimmy will have to decide how far his loyalty will go, and just who his friend really is.

Rat Daniels is a luminous and deeply evocative debut novel from the 2023 Richell Prize winner, Alex Sawyer.