Eddie was unemployed and homeless when he found refuge on a small island in a river estuary.

He built a rudimentary shack there, a box-like structure made habitable with some basic furniture and a wood burning stove. This provided some semblance of domesticity for himself and his son, Andrew, who would stay with him from time to time. Their immediate surroundings could be considered pastoral, and their life as one of different freedoms.
In fair weather life on the island was hard, but tolerable. But now the two men are individually faced with the prospect of wintering there for the second time, and the drone of the nearby motorway is a reminder of the world they left behind.

Rats Island is spare and measured. It offers an observational account of how, in the face of personal and economic adversity, a father has made a home for himself and his son. It documents his efforts to survive in a social and geographic margin, as he tries to hold on to his family.

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