Nevil Shute was a prolific author in the 1940s and 50s whose books these days might feel a little dated to younger readers/listeners, but they are all excellent examples of a master storyteller.

Over the summer we listened to On The Beach and A Town Like Alice, both of which were extremely well read by their narrators.

On The Beach perhaps isn’t the best choice of material during the current pandemic, given that it tracks the aftermath of a nuclear war and the slow but inexorable death of mankind as the radiation gradually spreads around the globe.

In contrast to the gloomy apocalyptic message in On The Beach, A Town Like Alice is a sheer delight from start to finish.

The story starts in post-WWII London where the young Jean Paget is told she has inherited a small fortune, but, since she is a woman, there are strings attached.

Backtracking to Malaya during WWII where Paget was working in Kuala Lumpur when the Japanese invaded, during an arduous trek southwards she meets an Australian POW Joe Harman who is a typically happy-go-lucky Aussie in spite of the precariousness of his situation.

Thinking that Harman is dead after a run-in with his captors over a stolen chicken, Jean is stunned to learn that Joe is still alive when she returns to Malaya after the war to use some of her fortune helping villagers who helped her survive.

She journeys on to Australia to find him while meanwhile Joe has gone to London to look for Jean …

Excellent narration from Robin Bailey only adds to the enjoyment of the story. To quote Joe Harman and his slow Queensland outback accent, “Oh my word…”

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