Only a Little While Here : A Novel

Winner of the Sor Juana In�s de la Cruz Prize Winner of Colombia's National Novel Award This prizewinning novel interweaves four animal odysseys in a gripping, adventurous meditation on migration and displacement in the inextricable human and natural worlds. In Only a Little While Here, award-winning author Mar�a Ospina evokes the gratification to be found through close, humble observation of nature. With characteristic precision and intensity, Ospina trains our attention on the lives of five creatures: a migratory songbird dazzled by city lights, an orphaned porcupine saved by kindness, two dogs grieving the loss of their human companions, and a determined beetle transported to a vast, unimaginable world. The surprising drama of their lives reveals the fragility and power of belonging, and what it means to create-or lose-a home. Along the way, our narrator models the attentiveness needed to mend the rift between humans and non-human creatures and celebrates animals' often-overlooked status as witnesses of our shared world. Alive with eagle-eyed curiosity, Only a Little While Here is ecological fiction at its most soul stirring.