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 It won The Australian/Vogel Literary Award for unpublished manuscripts by writers under 35.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?O'Connor, Andrew (2006) Tuvalu, p. 245
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
References