A Town Like Alice

By Nevil Shute

A survivor's journey from war-torn Malaya to the Australian outback uncovers unexpected hope.

4.2/5 Goodreads · 63,409 ratings

351 pages

$18.00Save 5%

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Bookroo's summary

Jean Paget, a resilient Englishwoman, survives a harrowing WWII death march in Malaya. Years later, an inheritance prompts her return to thank the villagers who saved her. There, she learns that Joe Harmon, an Australian soldier who aided them, is alive. Her quest to find Joe leads her to the remote outback of Willstown, where new challenges test her wartime resilience. Will Jean's courage and determination be enough to navigate this rugged landscape and the mysteries it holds?

From the publisher

From the hugely acclaimed author of On the Beach–a tale of love and war that follows its enterprising heroine from the Malayan jungle during World War II to the rugged Australian outback. - “Entertaining … Dramatic … Shute is a natural and effective story-teller.” –The New York TimesJean Paget, a young Englishwoman living in Malaya, is captured by the invading Japanese and forced on a brutal seven-month death march with dozens of other women and children. A few years after the war, Jean is back in England, the nightmare behind her. However, an unexpected inheritance inspires her to return to Malaya to give something back to the villagers who saved her life. But it turns out that they have a gift for her as well: the news that the young Australian soldier, Joe Harmon, who had risked his life to help the women, had miraculously survived. Jean’s search for Joe leads her to a desolate Australian outpost called Willstown, where she finds a challenge that will draw on all the resourcefulness and spirit that carried her through her war-time ordeals.

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