Little World, what are you? Josephine Rowe’s latest novel is a precisely drawn enigma

By Tony Hughes-d'Aeth, Professor, Chair of Australian Literature, The University of Western Australia

The unusual element of Josephine Rowe’s short novel Little World is that the heroine remains utterly impassive throughout the events of the narrative. This is for the simple reason that she is dead.

This does not mean she does not act, though. In fact, she acts exactly in the way that the dead are wont to do, which is to present themselves in the form of a question to the living.

Irina, if that is indeed her name, was born in Panama in the townships that serviced the canal at some point early…

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