Tuvalu (novel)

Tuvalu

First edition
Author	Andrew O'Connor
Language	English
Genre	Novel
Publisher	Allen and Unwin, Australia
Publication date	2006
Publication place	Australia
Media type	Print Paperback
Pages	347 pp
ISBN	1-74114-871-5
OCLC	74946085
Dewey Decimal	A823.4 22
LC Class	PR9619.4.O286 T88 2006

Tuvalu is a 2006 novel by Australian author Andrew O'Connor. It won The Australian/Vogel Literary Award for unpublished manuscripts by writers under 35.

Plot introduction

The novel is set mostly in Tokyo and tells the story of a young Australian teacher of English, and his relationship with two women, Tilly, another Australian English teacher, and Mami, a Japanese hotel heiress. It is told in first-person.

Explanation of the novel's title

Tuvalu is a small Pacific island nation. It doesn't appear in the novel except as an idea. Tilly describes it to Noah as follows:

I guess for me Tuvalu's always done the trick. I've never been anywhere near it. I've never even studied it. For all I know it might well have sunk. But that one word's taken on a meaning all of its own. [...] Haven't you ever once looked into the future and pictured a different life for yourself, made it a destination in some abstract way? A place in which you are content and from which you never look forward, except maybe to hope for more of the same?

Awards

• 2007: Commonwealth Writers' Prize SE Asia and South Pacific, Best First Novel: Winner
• 2005: The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Winner

Reviews

• Delaney, Brigid (2005) "The loneliness of the long-distance writer pays off", The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 January 2005
• Dooley, Gillian (2006) Review of 'Tuvalu' by Andrew O'Connor, recorded for Writers Radio, Radio Adelaide, 6 October 2006