Book #11: A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute

I can't even say how much I've LOVED this book. Maybe it's just that I really love old books like this--it reminded me a lot of Song of Years, published in 1939, about people living in the Midwest in the pioneer days. This book is kind of like that in style (not at all similar in plot, of course). I really want to buy it sometime (of course, I checked it out from the library and have been listening to it on audiobook). I mean, just look at the cover! It looks amazing and old and perfect. I also want to check out more by Nevil Shute, whoever he is.

The book starts by describing Jean Piaget, the main female character, and her experience as a prisoner of war to the Japanese in Malaysia in WWII. This part of the book is based in fact--there really was a group of women who survived a march like Jean's. But maybe I was misled by the blurb on the back of the audiobook, because I thought that the WHOLE book was going to be about Malaysia. But that part of the book ended at chapter 4, and I kept thinking, "What on earth is the rest of this book going to be about?" Just so I don't give away the whole book, the second half of the book is set in Australia, which I was not really expecting (despite the hint from the title, which is a town in Australia which is mentioned earlier on in the book). Once they got to Australia, I pretty much knew what was going to happen, but I still felt so fulfilled by the whole story.

One somewhat unrelated note--I thought it was so cool how Jean was such an entrepreneur in the 1950s in Australia. She saw a need (and there were many in Willstown) and she created a business to fill it, despite not even having the right market (or so most people thought). Her experiences really showed me what entrepreneurs do, and made me want to start brainstorming and doing it too. I don't think I'll give up my day job, but it's kind of fun to daydream.