Nadia Budde’s hero is no longer the master in his own house, because he has a permanent resident: the rat. Day after day he finds the rat on his doormat when he gets home; huge and in good humour. Once she’s inside the house, she puts on his slippers and makes herself at home: on the sofa, on the piano stool, in bed. She pushes in: in the bathroom, at the fridge, in front of the 
mirror. Monopolizes the telephone, makes a noise and gets onto his nerves until even our longsuffering hero bursts with anger!
And then she is suddenly gone. Alas! Instead of being relieved, our hero is melancholy and his home appears dull to him. So he sets off on a search … Nadia Budde rhymes as casually as if she did nothing but speak in verse and her pictures paint the complicated sentiments of this pathetic-comical flat share to a hair.
by Nadia Budde
“An incredibly funny and yet poetic book about friendship.” – Kölner Stadtanzeiger
“It is worth taking a close look so as to not miss any details … Budde is simply ingenious.” – Titel Kulturmagazin
- Remarkable Book 2016
Peter Hammer Verlag | hc | 32 pp | 220 x 250 mm | Feb 2016 | 4+
Rights sold: Arabic, French
[original title: Vor meiner Tür auf einer Matte]