Publisher's Synopsis
We are not alone. All houses often have critters--invaders who don't share humans' proprietary attitude about their dwellings. The resulting interspecies disagreements often lead to conflict. In "The Whiteness of the Weasel," Vermont writer E. J. Myers portrays his struggle with two kinds of intruders. One is the constant influx of ordinary mice. The other is the arrival of an altogether more unusual rodent: an ermine. This remarkably beautiful creature initially prompts Myers to feel surprise, then delight, then longing, then obsession. Why did she appear just once, then disappear? Like a landlubber Ahab, Myers searches for the beast that has become his animal familiar, his mini-White Whale. He copes with the mice that plague his house, drive him to distraction, and inadvertently teach him a lot about violence and nonviolence; at the same time, he contemplates and stalks the elusive ermine. "The Whiteness of the Weasel" is an ironic portrait of obsession and simultaneously a nuanced meditation on living in the natural world.
