Author(s): Eleanor Dark

Fiction

First published in 1945 and written during the final years of World War II, The Little Company's complex narrative structure explores the politics and propaganda of the war through the experiences of the Massey family, making this seventh novel of Eleanor Dark one of her most political. The book records some of the events of the war but is primarily set in Sydney and the Blue Mountains. The work successfully demonstrates how personal questions intertwine with larger political and intellectual concerns, and the impact of extraordinary times on ordinary people.Eleanor O'Reilly was born in Sydney in 1901. In 1922, she married Eric Dark, a general practitioner and the couple moved to Katoomba and lived there for the remainder of their lives, with occasional journeys away. Eleanor pursued her writing as time permitted, completing nine novels by the 1950s, including the classic work The Timeless Land. Varuna Writers Centre in Katoomba was formerly the Darks' home. Eleanor Dark died in 1985.