A Town Like Alice
Author: Nevil Shute (1899-1960)
Title: A Town Like Alice (1950)
Genre: fiction (Australian classic)
Trivia: (NT) #AusReadingMonth @Brona’s Books
BINGO COMPLETED!! I went ‘the whole hog’ !!
- If you’re feeling a little touched by the sun, then
- …the Whole Hog may be for you.
- Read NINE books this November from all of the 8 states and territories
- …plus one freebie.
- The FREEBIE can be any book by an Australian author or
- or a book written by an overseas author but set entirely in Australia.
Introduction:
- Noel Strachan, an ageing and widowed solicitor,
- …had almost forgotten his client Douglas Macfadden
- …when in 1948 he received a telegram announcing his death.
- Strachan becomes trustee to McFadden’s niece Jean Paget
- who has inherited quite substantial sum from her uncle.
- The real story swings into action:
- Jean’s WW II experiences in Malaya and
- …what takes her to Australia is as much a
- …surprise for her as it is for the reader.
Conclusion:
- This was a delightful story.
- Jean’s work in England as a typist, her hardships during the
- WWII and most of all her adventures in Australia.
- It is a war story, a love story and how one person can change a town.
- I followed Jean Paget’s journeys on a map…
- flying from Darwin to Alice Springs to Carins and back in a Dragon!
- Reading A Town Like Alice felt like a road trip ‘in a road trip’
- Title: the only reference to it is in chapter 10.
- A book should whisk the reader on a ‘magic carpet’ to far off places.
- After reading A Town Like Alice I would love to visit Brisbane.
- Carins, Alice Springs and if I really could dream….
- visit Green Island where Jean and Joe
- …finally pledged their love for each other.
Last thoughts:
- I’ve read 3 books by Nevil Shute… (all during past.. #AusReadingMonth )
- On the Beach (1957)
- Trustee from the Toolroom (1960) and
- A Town Like Alice (1950).
- I saved the best for last!
- #GreatAussieRead
- #Inspiring
NancyElin 
I ‘discovered’ this book when I was 13. A new TV mini-series aired starting Bryan Brown, Helen Morse & Gordon Jackson at the time …& I fell in love. I read the book not long after & realised that there were lots of differences. The romance more complicated and less romantic that my young teenage self could cope with .
I’d love to reread it as an adult.
Congrats on finishing the AusBingo challenge – you’ve faired better than I !!
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I’ve just been inspired throughout the years (1st #AusReadingMonth year read just one book… On the Beach). Later I spent 3 weeks Reading Australia Felix (R Mahoney). You gave met lists of prize winners and 50 Classic Australian books (J. Gleeson) and I managed to raise the bar last year ( read 6 books). This year I dedicated the entire month to Australia….and never looked back! Great books are still yet to be discovered…and I finally know where Tasmania is on the map!
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I read this in school because it was on the book list for our English Lit. In the end it wasn’t one of those we studied in depth but I loved this book back then!! Makes me wonder though what I’d think if I read it now – sounds like I might pick up things that my fifteen year old self missed!!!!
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I loved this book. It just shows you how one person can change a town!
Thanks for your comments!
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