Nevil Shute is one of my all-time favorite authors. Every one of his books is an exploration into a different time and place than the world we live in today. His characters are interesting and admirable and his stories are full of adventure, often into the unexpected.
Leah G.
Leah G.
The opening scenes of this book are grim, an elderly aunt in England is dying of starvation, too proud to ask for help after her pension from her husband's service in India is stopped by the socialist government that took over post-war England. The niece in Australia, Jane Dorman, has finally come into prosperity after she and her husband, Jack Dorman, have toiled for 32 years on a sheep ranch. Compelled by the uneasiness of her Aunt Ethel Trehearn's last letter, she decides to send the poor aunt 500 pounds, which was a great deal of money in the post-war economy. The letter with the needed funds arrive just a day or two before Aunt Ethel dies. Ethel's granddaughter, Jennifer Morton, has come to her home to care for her after the old lady experienced a fall in the street. Jennifer is confused by the bare cupboards and the empty house, missing most of its furniture. What has happened in the month since she had last visited and been greeted with a proper English dinner and a comfortable bed to sleep in? Jennifer soon learns the truth of her grandmother's plight but it is too late to help her. Her grandmother insists that she been given 400 pounds of the money and she must use it to visit her cousin, Jane, in Australia - a death bed promise that Jennifer feels compelled to keep for the sake of her grandmother. The trip to Australia opens a whole new world to Jennifer, a world of smiling faces and well-fed citizens who love to work and strive for their existence - a far cry from the drab, defeated population of England. She meets a young foreign doctor who is in the displaced work program working in a lumber camp. He has been asked to tend to two workers who have been seriously injured in a bulldozer roll over. She must help him with his doctoral duties or the men will die. From there the story begins to reveal the struggles of these two young people as they try to put their lives back together after so much suffering. This is a book that is full of hope for all people who wish to be free and not over-taxed or over-regulated.
