diff --git a/virtualEei.go b/virtualEei.go
index 0a7c2b2..c61185e 100644
--- a/virtualEei.go
+++ b/virtualEei.go
@@ -6,27 +6,35 @@ import (
 )
 
 type VirtualEEI struct {
-	memPages map[uint32][4096]byte
+	memPages map[uint32]*[4096]byte
 }
 
 func NewVirtualEEI() VirtualEEI {
 	return VirtualEEI{
-		memPages: make(map[uint32][4096]byte),
+		memPages: make(map[uint32]*[4096]byte),
 	}
 }
 
 func (ve *VirtualEEI) ReadByte(addr uint32) (byte, error) {
-	page, _ := ve.memPages[addr>>12]
+	page, ok := ve.memPages[addr>>12]
+	if !ok {
+		return 0, nil
+	}
+
 	return page[addr&0b111111111111], nil
 }
 
 func (ve *VirtualEEI) Read16(addr uint32) (uint16, error) {
 	// n.b. will panic on overflow
 
-	page, _ := ve.memPages[addr>>12]
+	page, ok := ve.memPages[addr>>12]
+	if !ok {
+		return 0, nil
+	}
+
 	inPageAddr := addr & 0b111111111111
 
-	return (uint16(page[inPageAddr]) << 8) | uint16(page[inPageAddr+1]), nil
+	return (uint16(page[inPageAddr+1]) << 8) | uint16(page[inPageAddr]), nil
 }
 
 func (ve *VirtualEEI) Read32(addr uint32) (uint32, error) {
@@ -34,57 +42,61 @@ func (ve *VirtualEEI) Read32(addr uint32) (uint32, error) {
 	// RISC-V allows 32-bit load/stores to be implemented as either little-endian
 	// or big-endian. This is the little-endian version
 
-	page, _ := ve.memPages[addr>>12]
+	page, ok := ve.memPages[addr>>12]
+	if !ok {
+		return 0, nil
+	}
+
 	inPageAddr := addr & 0b111111111111
 
-	return (uint32(page[inPageAddr]) << 24) | (uint32(page[inPageAddr+1]) << 16) | (uint32(page[inPageAddr+2]) << 8) | uint32(page[inPageAddr+3]), nil
+	return (uint32(page[inPageAddr+3]) << 24) | (uint32(page[inPageAddr+2]) << 16) | (uint32(page[inPageAddr+1]) << 8) | uint32(page[inPageAddr]), nil
 }
 
 func (ve *VirtualEEI) WriteByte(addr uint32, value byte) error {
 	page, ok := ve.memPages[addr>>12]
-
-	// Slices are reference-types, this will write-through into ve.memPages
-	page[addr&0b111111111111] = value
-
 	if !ok {
+		page = new([4096]byte)
 		ve.memPages[addr>>12] = page
 	}
 
+	// The pointer-to-page-array is a reference type, this will write-through into ve.memPages
+	page[addr&0b111111111111] = value
 	return nil
 }
 
 func (ve *VirtualEEI) Write16(addr uint32, value uint16) error {
-	// n.b. will panic on split page boundary
 
 	page, ok := ve.memPages[addr>>12]
-	inPageAddr := addr & 0b111111111111
-
-	// Slices are reference-types, this will write-through into ve.memPages
-	page[inPageAddr] = byte((value >> 8) & 0b11111111)
-	page[inPageAddr+1] = byte(value & 0b11111111)
-
 	if !ok {
+		page = new([4096]byte)
 		ve.memPages[addr>>12] = page
 	}
 
+	inPageAddr := addr & 0b111111111111
+
+	// The pointer-to-page-array is a reference type, this will write-through into ve.memPages
+	// n.b. will panic on split page boundary
+	page[inPageAddr+1] = byte((value >> 8) & 0b11111111)
+	page[inPageAddr] = byte(value & 0b11111111)
+
 	return nil
 }
 
 func (ve *VirtualEEI) Write32(addr, value uint32) error {
-	// n.b. will panic on split page boundary
 
 	page, ok := ve.memPages[addr>>12]
-	inPageAddr := addr & 0b111111111111
-
-	// Slices are reference-types, this will write-through into ve.memPages
-	page[inPageAddr] = byte((value >> 24) & 0b11111111)
-	page[inPageAddr+1] = byte((value >> 16) & 0b11111111)
-	page[inPageAddr+2] = byte((value >> 8) & 0b11111111)
-	page[inPageAddr+3] = byte(value & 0b11111111)
-
 	if !ok {
+		page = new([4096]byte)
 		ve.memPages[addr>>12] = page
 	}
+	inPageAddr := addr & 0b111111111111
+
+	// The pointer-to-page-array is a reference type, this will write-through into ve.memPages
+	// n.b. will panic on split page boundary
+	page[inPageAddr+3] = byte((value >> 24) & 0b11111111)
+	page[inPageAddr+2] = byte((value >> 16) & 0b11111111)
+	page[inPageAddr+1] = byte((value >> 8) & 0b11111111)
+	page[inPageAddr] = byte(value & 0b11111111)
 
 	return nil
 }
diff --git a/virtualEei_test.go b/virtualEei_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a4550a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/virtualEei_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+package riscvemu
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestEndianness(t *testing.T) {
+	e := NewVirtualEEI()
+
+	err := e.Write32(0, 0x12345678)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	rw, err := e.Read32(0)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if rw != 0x12345678 {
+		t.Errorf("got %x expected 0x12345678", rw)
+	}
+
+	// In little-endian, the 32-bit value 0x12345678 is written in order with its
+	// least-significant bytes first (i.e. in a hex editor: 78563412)
+
+	rb, err := e.ReadByte(0)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if rb != 0x78 {
+		t.Errorf("got %x expected 0x78", rb)
+	}
+
+	rb, err = e.ReadByte(1)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if rb != 0x56 {
+		t.Errorf("got %x expected 0x56", rb)
+	}
+
+	rb, err = e.ReadByte(2)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if rb != 0x34 {
+		t.Errorf("got %x expected 0x34", rb)
+	}
+
+	rb, err = e.ReadByte(3)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if rb != 0x12 {
+		t.Errorf("got %x expected 0x12", rb)
+	}
+}