The God of Small Islands

This story is told from a number of points of view. One of them is that of Joy, a woman with impeccable light Green political credentials, a job in a suburban library in Canberra and a mother who seems to have a clearer idea of what Joy should be doing than Joy does herself. Joy’s partner, Geoff, takes a job at the Office of Planning in the Marshall Islands. His motives are good. He’d like to help. That’s his problem. He has walked into a culture where much happens but nobody ever seems to do anything. Jane Downing creates both this world and its visitors with a wry sense of humour. She notes that Geoff finds the move to a stress-free environment very stressful. He sets about drafting a plan for improving the local fishing industry. After a while, he discovers an almost identical plan, completed five years earlier. Nothing had been done about it.