It tells the story of Jean Paget as a prisoner of war in Malaya during World War II and. While on the march, the group run into some Australian prisoners, one of whom, Joe Harman, helps them steal some food, and is horrifically punished by the Japanese as a result.Īfter the war, Jean tracks Joe down in Australia and together they begin to dream of surmounting the past and transforming his one-horse outback town into a thriving community like Alice Springs. A Town Like Alice is a novel by the Australian author Nevil Shute. Author: nevil shute, Title: town called alice. When she is captured she joins a group of other European women and children whom the Japanese force to march for miles through the jungle - an experience that leads to the deaths of many.ĭue to her courageous spirit and ability to speak Malay, Jean takes on the role of leader of the sorry gaggle of prisoners and many end up owing their lives to her indomitable spirit. A Town Called Alice by Nevil Shute and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at . British-Australian author Nevil Shutes historical romance novel A Town Like Alice (1950) is about Jean Paget, a young Englishwoman who becomes romantically. British-Australian author Nevil Shute’s historical romance novel A Town Like Alice (1950) is about Jean Paget, a young Englishwoman who becomes romantically interested in a fellow prisoner of World War II being held in British Malaya. Jean Paget is just twenty years old and working in Malaya when the Japanese invasion begins. A Town Like Alice is a romance novel by Nevil Shute, published in 1950 when Shute had newly settled in Australia. The author of the Booker Prize-longlisted A Town Called Solace on Alice Munro, the pleasures of pond-watching, and sticking electrodes onto the chests of hairy steel-workers in Wales. 'Probably more people have shed tears over the last page of A Town Like Alice than about any other novel in the English language.

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