On an Internet chat room, he gets in touch with a fellow named Jonah Traust, who claims that thousands of intruders are crawling around in people's homes and who offers to help evict them, for a price. He and Elise become friends of a sort, playing games, but Brody's propensity for 'borrowing' stuff his foster family can't afford poses a grave threat.Įventually, Marshall, the 16-year-old, rebels when his Pop Tarts and his switchblade vanish. Brody breaks into local houses, though he doesn't stay. First, Elise is discovered by Brody, another orphan in the neighborhood. (Elise borrows his books they share a taste for fantasy and mythology.) Only Eddie, the dreamy 13-year-old, suspects Elise's presence - but he thinks she's a product of his imagination. She borrows carefully from the kitchen so they won't notice, subsisting mainly on Raisin Bran. When they go off to school or work, she comes out, even watches TV - though she's careful to leave everything as it was. He's a teacher, she's a real-estate agent, and they have two sons, 16 and 13. Of course, there's already another family in the house, the Masons. More: Cameron Art Museum announces an evening with Pulitzer Prize author - tickets on sale now More: Holy smoke: Tennessee author explores history of Carolina barbecue 'Elise wrapped herself in the house as if it were a winter coat,' Gnuse writes.

Plus, Elise is tiny enough that she can squeeze between the inner and outer walls. It has an attic, ample crawl space, a laundry chute and plenty of closets. Elise slips out of the window of a foster home and heads for the house where she spent most of her childhood - a large, rambling, pseudo-plantation manor with various added wings. A native of New Orleans, he lives in Texas.

His writing has appeared in the Guardian, Gulf Coast, Literary Hub, Los Angeles Review, Passages North, and other venues. He received an MFA in fiction from UNC Wilmington and was a Kenyon Review Peter Taylor fellow. Then, Elise's parents are killed in a car crash. Gnuse is the author of Girl in the Walls, published by 4th Estate and Ecco in 2021. She's developed a habit of slipping out of boring classes by hiding in closets and lockers. A quiet girl, Elise makes few friends and lives largely in books. The title heroine of 'Girl in the Walls' is Elise, a 12-year-old on the outskirts of a New Orleans suburb.

Girl in the Walls by A.J. Gnuse