A Town Like Alice
by Nevil Shute
List Price:
Our Price: $19.49
You Save: $10.46 (35%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Nevil ShuteEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2010-06-05
ISBN: 0848808487
Number of pages: 280
Publisher: Amereon Ltd
Book Reviews of A Town Like Alice
Book Review: One of those rare books that I hated to finish
Summary: 5 Stars
In 1930s England, a solicitor writes his client's will with extra care because it is an unusual will. An elderly bachelor wants to leave his considerable fortune to his sister's children in Malaya - to the boy (of course) if he is still living when his uncle dies, but otherwise to the girl. The old man does not believe a young woman can be trusted with a great deal of money; so he insists that if his niece inherits, the solicitor's firm must hold the estate in trust until she is 35 years old. The solicitor, Noel Strachan, thinks no more about the matter until after World War II, when he finally hears that his client is dead. So, thanks to the war, is his client's nephew. The niece is now living nearby. Her name is Jean Paget, and as Strachan gets to know her he hears a remarkable story of how she survived the war in Malaya.
The Japanese who occupied Malaya gathered up the British women and children from the area where Jean lived and worked, but never did provide a prison camp for them. Instead they marched the group from one part of the country to another, while the weaker women and many of the children died as exhaustion, malnutrition, and tropical diseases took their toll. Eventually the survivors met two Australian prisoners of war who were driving trucks for the Japanese. One of the Australians made it his business to help the women. His help extended to stealing a Japanese officer's prized chickens, for which crime he was crucified and - as Jean and the others believed - beaten to death.
With the income from her inheritance (all that she can have under the terms of her uncle's will, while still in her 20s), Jean leaves her mundane job in England and sets off for Malaya to build a well for the village where she and the others lived through the last three years of the war. While she is delivering that gift of thanks, she finds out that the Australian P.O.W. - Joe Harman, a stockrider - survived his punishment, after all. Now Jean has another mission. She goes from Malaya to Australia in search of Joe Harman. Who, having won an Australian lottery, has left for a holiday in England. He has learned that Jean was not married, as he believed she must be because when he knew her she had someone else's child in her care.
That summarizes the book's first half. Its second follows Jean's work in Joe Harman's tiny Outback hamlet, which she decides to make over into "a town like Alice" - Alice Springs, that is. A "bonza town" where she can make a life with Joe, without sacrificing everything that she believes life should offer a woman and her children.
The tale is narrated by Noel Strachan, whose protective fondness for his young client undoubtedly would become something far greater if she were not young enough to be his granddaughter. Despite the violence it describes without flinching, this is a remarkably gentle and often humorous story. Its characters seem completely real, and they captured my heart early on. Author Shute's prose paints detailed and vivid pictures of times and places, and in bringing together the young Englishwoman and the Australian stockrider he illuminates the clashing cultures they represent. This is one of those rare books that I hated to finish, because I wanted to keep on reading it for much, much longer.
--Reviewed by Nina M. Osier, author of "Love, Jimmy: A Maine Veteran's Longest Battle"
Summary of A Town Like Alice
A TOWN LIKE ALICE tells of a young woman who miraculously survived a Japanese "death march" in World War II, and of an Australian soldier, also a prisoner of war, who offered to help her--even at the cost of his life....War Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in War Books
Fist of Godby Frederick Forsyth
Harpercollins Audio; Published: 1995-11-27; Audio Cassette; Book
Empire of the Sunby J G Ballard
Harpercollins Audio; Published: 1995-11; Hardcover; Book
Memoirs of an Infantry Officerby Siegfried Sassoon
Faber & Faber; Published: 1980-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.00
Price in other shops:
The Raidby Benjamin F. Schemmer
Random House Audio; Published: 2002-07-30; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $19.98
The Rising Tide: A Novel of World War IIby Jeff Shaara
Ballantine Books; Published: 2007-09-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.02
Price in other shops:
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie Warby Max Brooks
Three Rivers Press; Published: 2007-10-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.76
Price in other shops:
The Mullah's Stormby Tom Young
Penguin Audio; Published: 2010-09-07; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $14.98
Price in other shops:
Gotz and Meyerby David Albahari
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Published: 2005-12-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.30
Price in other shops:
Shadow Command: A Novelby Dale Brown
William Morrow & Co.; Published: 2008-05-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.87
Price in other shops:
Stonehengeby Bernard Cornwell
HarperTorch; Published: 2001-05-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.45
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Angle of Repose (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics)by Wallace Stegner
PBS; Penguin Classics; Published: 2000-12-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.08
Price in other shops:
The Dovekeepers: A Novelby Alice Hoffman
Scribner; Published: 2011-10-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.89
Price in other shops:
A Town Like Alice (Vintage International)by Nevil Shute
Vintage; Published: 2010-02-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.88
Price in other shops:
Trustee from the Toolroom (Vintage Classics)by Nevil Shute
Vintage Classics; Published: 2009-10-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.00
On the Beachby Nevil Shute
Lightyear Pr; Published: 1998-08-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.99
Price in other shops:
Trustee from the Toolroomby Nevil Shute
Amereon Ltd; Published: 2011-05-24; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $31.95
Pastoralby Nevil Shute
World Publishing Company; Published: 1944-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $24.95
Pied Piper (Vintage International)by Nevil Shute
Vintage; Published: 2010-08-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.10
Price in other shops:
The Breaking Wave (Vintage International)by Nevil Shute
Vintage; Published: 2010-08-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.36
Price in other shops:
![A Town Like Alice [VHS] Image](/images/A-Town-Like-Alice-VHS-6302796857-X.jpg){kind=small}
A Town Like Alice [VHS]Anchor Bay; Release date: 1992-07-30; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $34.97