Stowaway

An intelligent and enlightening book … Read this book and you will never look at a rat the same way again. They are complex like us, intelligent like us. Read this book and you’ll shudder no more when you see a rat. That’s what I’m telling myself anyway. * Michael Morpurgo *Rats are far from the dirty vermin that we all love to deride; indeed, they are acutely intelligent and thoroughly fascinating. Joe Shute eloquently puts us right about the world’s most common rodent and throws in some great facts and theories too. * David Lindo *Stowaway is not another natural history in the vein of the otter or the barn owl … [Shute’s] real aim is to show us that, ultimately, the history of rats is a history of ourselves. – Adam Weymouth * The Sunday Times *This wonderful, charming book … forcefully demonstrates how little we know about our rodent neighbours. – Rose George * Spectator *Fascinating – John Simpson

Joe Shute is an author, national newspaper feature writer and The Daily Telegraph’s long-standing ‘Weather Watch’ columnist. He is currently a post-graduate researcher funded by the Leverhulme Unit for the Design of Cities of the Future at Manchester Metropolitan University. His other books include Forecast: A Diary of the Lost Seasons and A Shadow Above: The Fall and Rise of the Raven. He lives in Sheffield with his wife (and rats).