Here at the End of the World We Learn to Dance

In the early years of the First World War, Louise Cunningham, a young orphaned woman, helps men avoid the call-up in the small settlement of Little River. She hides out in a cave on the coast with Schmidt, a well-travelled piano tuner, and the Quaker Billy Pohl, both evading conscription, and on the cave floor Schmidt teaches her the tango, with consequences that reach far beyond the war. Two generations later Lionel, a student washing dishes at La Chacra, the Argentine restaurant run by Schmidt's granddaughter Rosa, hears the story from her as she teaches him to dance, and is drawn into a seduction of his own. The two love stories are told interwoven rather than in order.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novel

Genres

Love, War (assigned by AI)

Set in

New Zealand, Argentina

First published

2002

Author's age

47 when first published

ISBN

9780143018186 (Penguin Books, New Zealand)

9780719524035 (John Murray, United Kingdom)

9780385342629 (Dial Press, United States)