A World of Other People

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A World of Other People
A World of Other People.jpg
First edition
Author Steven Carroll
Country Australia
Language English
Genre novel
Publisher Fourth Estate, Australia
Publication date
2013
Media typePrint (Paperback)
Pages278
ISBN 9780732291204
Preceded bySpirit of Progress 
Followed byForever Young 

A World of Other People (2013) is a novel by Australian author Steven Carroll. It was the joint winner of the 2014 Prime Minister's Literary Awards. [1]

Contents

Plot summary

The novel uses T. S. Eliot's poem "Little Gidding" from Four Quartets as a starting point. The time is 1941 and London is experiencing The Blitz. Iris, a young civil servant, has volunteered to be an aircraft spotter on a building in Russell Square. Another spotter is Eliot himself, as the building is the headquarters of the publishing house, Faber & Faber. Late one night the pair witness the crash of a British Wellington bomber, and Eliot goes on to write his poem utilising this incident. At the initial public reading of the poem, Jim, the pilot of the crashed aircraft, happens to be in the audience and recognises his accident being depicted in the poem.

Notes

Our interest's on the dangerous edge of things.
The honest thief, the tender murderer,
The superstitious atheist...

– "Bishop Blougram's Apology", Robert Browning.

Reviews

Awards and nominations

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References