November ~ Nevil Shute

Nevil Shute Norway (17 January 1899 – 12 January 1960) was an English novelist and aeronautical engineer who spent his later years in Australia. He used his full name in his engineering career and Nevil Shute as his pen name to protect his engineering career from any potential negative publicity in connection with his novels.

BEYOND THE BLACK STUMP

Sheila:

Nevil Shute was an author Sheila had read many years before. But she was almost put off reading further after the first chapter; set in America in the 1950’s and full of clichés.

But from the second chapter, she loved the book. It tells the story of a young oilman who travels the world searching for oil. In the outback of Western Australia he meets an unconventional farming family and falls in love with a young girl. Much of the book concerns the differing moral standards and life styles between the people of the outback and those in his hometown in USA.

Sheila described him as a writer of the 1940/50’s generation, no frills, plain Australiana and a good read.

ON THE BEACH

Judy A:

Set in 1963 when Nuclear War has completely wiped out the northern hemisphere countries and the lethal nuclear fallout is gradually heading south. The story is set in Melbourne where people are living quite normal lives, with many denying it will happen.  As the radiation approaches, each person deals with impending death differently.

Judy felt that the writing now seemed dated, and the dialogue clichéd. But she was glad to have finally read this book.

JO:

This very good story moved Jo to ‘cry a bucketful of tears’. She also thought it should be compulsory reading for all politicians involved in nuclear war!

PIPER PIPER

Rosemary:

The story concerns a 70 year old Englishman, John Sidney Howard, who goes on a fishing holiday in France partly to recover from grief at the loss of his son. As the Second World War quickly escalates, he decides he must return to England. Along the way he acquires 5 children from different backgrounds who need to get back to England.

Rosemary enjoyed the story with a particular fondness for the main character.

 

Ed:

Each of the children who joined him had interesting and different stories.

Charis:

Charis also enjoyed the book.

Howard tells his journey in the form of a flashback to an acquaintance he meets in a club during the London Blitz.

THE WETLANDS

Charis:

The story begins with the narrator – a priest named Roger Hargreaves –describing his ordinary circumstances in a large parish of the Australian outback in 1953. As part of his duties, he has to minister to the dying and this brings him into contact with an aged, alcoholic, opium smoking, diseased, ex-pilot and ex-ringer named Stevie.

Stevie tells him his story of being a pilot for the queen, but it is so incredible, can he be believed?

Despite this storyline, Charis didn’t really enjoy the book and became bored with the incredulity of the story.

A TOWN LIKE ALICE

Wendy L:

The 2 main characters Jean, an English woman, and Joe, an Australian soldier, meet while both are prisoners of the Japanese in Malaya (now Malayasia).

Returning to England after the war, Jean finds she has inherited a considerable sum of money from her uncle, which will be kept in trust for her.

 After the war they seek each other out and reunite in a small Australian town that would have no future if not for her plans to turn it into ‘a town like Alice”.

Wendy liked how the author sets up the character of the lawyer to narrate the story. As he manages her trust, he secretly falls in love with Jean.

For Wendy this was a chance to reread a book first encountered many years ago.

She was shocked at how dated it had become, the language was different and the characters clichéd, although this was appropriate for the time it was written.

Judy J:

It was a story told in 2 parts. The first set in Malaya after the Japanese have invaded most of the country. A group of women and children are forced to walk from village to village for many months as there is no suitable prison for them. As she speaks Malay fluently, Jean takes a leading role in the group of prisoners.

The second part takes place in Australia after the war. Jean uses her inheritance to find Joe, the Australian soldier who had helped them out.

 

It was interesting that the Japanese soldiers were portrayed as more human than in other war accounts. One could almost feel sorry for them, they were prisoners themselves.

Joan:

Joan also enjoyed rereading the book and going back to simpler times. When the story moved to the Gulf country, she could relate to this from her own experiences there.

Joe Harman, his character, his language were so typical of the time.

She felt it was well worth reading again.

THE FAR COUNTRY

Pauline:

This is another of Nevil Shute’s books set both in Australia and England and probably based on characters and places he was familiar with.

Set in 1952, an English couple live in the outback on a prosperous sheep farm. They regularly send money to help support an old aunt in England.

Before she dies, the aunt sends her granddaughter out to Australia to visit her relatives. Here she meets and falls in love with a young Czech doctor.

The comparisons between the relative prosperity of Australia and the harsh post war conditions in England become very obvious in the story.

Pauline commented that the language of the book was delightful, she liked the fact that it was dated and described it as a nice easy read.

ROUND THE BEND

Pat:

Nevil Shute had previously been an aeronautical engineer. This novel is the story of Constantine “Connie” Shaklin an aircraft engineer who founds a new religion transcending existing religions based on the merit of good work. He runs a charter service and befriends the Russians and the Chinese without any prejudice.

Although Pat didn’t finish the book, from her past reading of his books, commented that he has a no nonsense style of writing, and tells a good story.

A LONELY ROAD

Connie:

Connie eventually enjoyed this book after getting through the rather confusing first chapter.

Set before World War Two, the story involves a group of people bringing guns into Cornwall, a rich bachelor and an underlying love story.

The author’s nautical background shows through in the very interesting and readable facts about sailing, boats etc.

 

MOST SECRET

Bev:

It is narrated by a commander in the Royal Navy, and tells the story of four men who launch a daring mission at the time when Briton stood alone against Germany after the fall of France

The central character is Englishman, Charles Simon. He returns to work in France as an engineer in the concrete industry, continuing when the works are taken over and pressed into the services of the occupying German forces who have a great demand for reinforced concrete structures. When he realizes what it is to be used for he and 3 others form a daring plan.

Bev thoroughly enjoyed it.

MARAZAN

Julia:

Published in 1926, this was the first of many novels by Nevil Shute and includes themes that were to be characteristic of other books, flying, small boat sailing and a love story.

It is the story of an air crash with an escaping prisoner rescuing the pilot, drug smuggling via the airplane, escape by sailing cruiser, the interception of the cargo and the capture of those responsible using another plane!

Julia really enjoyed this intriguing story.

PASTORAL

Diane D

Reading about life in wartime England brought back many memories for Diane. She enjoyed this aspect of the story, but otherwise wouldn’t recommend the book.

The story takes place on an English airbase. The brilliant young pilots go out on sorties, some will come back, while others will not. Even during times of war, romance still happens. Not much else seems to happen in the story. Diane had some concerns about the author’s attitude to women, especially as this was a time that the women were skilled, doing men’s work and finding their voice.

THE OLD CAPTIVITY

Natalia:

A young pilot is hired to fly some academics to Greenland to survey a site of early Norseman times. Becoming very tired from the work expected of him there, he takes sleeping tablets to keep going but falls into a coma going back in time to the original voyage of discovery of Greenland.

Natalia felt that the characters didn’t really come to life and the ‘time travel’ needed more depth.

It was a different and interesting story, and very factual about aircraft of that time.

 

TRUSTEE FROM THE TOOLROOM

Val:

Keith is an ordinary little man, living in Ealing, who makes small-scaled machinery models, and answers reader’s queries in a magazine called Minature Mechanics. He and his wife don’t have any children.

His sister is married to a wealthy naval officer who sail the world. His sister and the commander decide to sail their yacht to Canada leaving their 10 year old daughter with her brother.

When their boat is shipwrecked in Tahiti, and all lives are lost, Keith becomes the guardian of his niece and sets off to retrieve the family’s fortune believed to be a cache of diamonds hidden on the boat.

Many people help him along the way, often they are readers connected to his magazine. While it was a very enjoyable and delightful read, Val thought there were a few too many and easy coincidences. Again, the author has included much and interesting engineering detail in the story.

The book was published in 1960 after the author’s death.

SO DISDAINED

Prue:

This is Shute’s second book, first published in 1928 and re-released in 1951.

Set after the First World War in Sussex in England, a returned pilot becomes the manager of a Lord’s estate. The differences in the lives of the middle and upper class are well described.

He meets a pilot who is down on his luck and has been forced into flying a photographic espionage mission for the Russians. There is much discussion as to the morality of acting as a traitor to his country.

While the plot was fairly elementary and the chapters long, Prue enjoyed the book. Beautiful language and proper expressions were part of the appeal.

 

THE RAINBOW AND THE ROSE

Tam:

Johnnie Pascoe is a pilot who has crashed in the Tasmanian wilderness while on a rescue mission to help a sick child. He is annoyed at having to risk his life because of where this child lives.

Another pilot volunteers to rescue the crashed pilot.

With 2 narrators the story had the tendency to sometimes be confusing.

Tam thought it a great story with a very interesting ending. She is keen to read more books by this author.

RUINED CITY

Judy D:

Henry Warren is a successful, hardworking banker who finds that his wife has been having an affair. They divorce and on a whim, gets his chauffer to drive him to the north of England so he can go on a hike and clear his head. The chauffer is killed in a road accident while returning to London, Warren falls ill and is taken to a nearby hospital. Wonderful people come to his rescue and as he has no identification, he is taken for a tramp or vagabond looking for work.

While the town had relied on industry, much of this is closing down. Through various means, not always legal, he manages to get the shipbuilding factory reopened and the town begins to prosper again.

NO HIGHWAY

 

Wendy J:

Theodore Honey is in charge of research into the fatigue of aluminum frames at Farnborough. His current project is to investigate the possible failure in the tailplane of a new airliner the “Rutland Reindeer”. He is sent to Greenland to investigate another plane crash, travelling on a Reindeer. According to his calculations the flying hours of this current plane are close to his predicted failure time!

How will he stop this from happening, how will he get the people on the plane back to England, and what will happen to him when he returns?

All of this makes it an interesting and easy read, enjoyed by Wendy.

REQUIEM FOR A WREN

Pamela:

The narrator Allan has been a lawyer in London before becoming a pilot in World War 11. He loses both his feet after being shot down. In the 1950s he eventually goes back to his wealthy parent’s sheep property in Australia only to be confronted by the apparent suicide of the family’s English housekeeper, Janet Prentice.

He later discovers that this lady had been engaged to his brother in England. After he died in the war and she suffered several other personal and war related tragedies she decided to come to Australia.

Pamela thought the characters were well developed, but there was too much technical detail. She didn’t think it was a depressing story. It was tragic what happened to the young woman, but the story had an uplifting ending.

Diann:

Diann looked at the story from a different perspective.

Janet grew up on a farm where it was normal to go shooting. During the war, she rose through the ranks, met a young man and became engaged. He unfortunately died. So she came to Australia o find the family but used a different name.

Diann described it as the story of a formidable young woman and how war affects people’s lives.

December's Book Club:

The best book you've read this year.

Also don't forget your Christmas gift. Wrap up a book you are happy to 'regift'. Write the genre of the book on the front.

 Join us for Christmas Lunch to finish the year.