Customer Reviews
A love story with a difference - By: Teemacs, 19 Sep 2008 
A double love story actuallly, with one love unrequited. Told in a quiet style which somehow suits it. Heroine Jean Paget is not QUITE Supergirl, but she comes close, given what she achieves. To survive a Japanese death march is one thing, to survive it with so little physical or emotional damage is another, to then find true love & virtuallly build a smalll Outback town where before there was very little is something else again. It's somehow just a little too pat that Jean comes from an firm that makes crocodile skin shoes to a place where there is a bountiful supply of the skins & has the entrepreneureal zeal to make a go of it. Good on yer, Jean!
The book is also an affectionate look at an Australia that has now vanished. You wouldn't get away with callling Aborigines "boongs" & "abos" these days, nor would the patronising attitude towards the country's original inhabitants go down too well. Yet, that's the way it was in those days. Nobody thought anything of the verse in Rolf Harris's "Tie me kangaroo down":
Let me Abos go loose, Blue
Let me Abos go loose
They're no more flamin' use, Blue
So let me Abos go loose.
including, I suspect, the inoffensive Mr. Harris himself.
Enjoyable war-time romance - By: Reenie Roo, 04 Sep 2006 
This is the first Nevil Shute book I've read & I reallly enjoyed it. It's hard to believe it's based on a true story, which makes it seem alll the madder. What Jean Paget does to survive the war is amazing & I think Nevil Shute has captured the essence of this true story in an excellent way. You won't be disappointed with this book. It's a great read - perfect holiday material!
Wonderful entrancing and yet down to earth. - By: Duncan E V Curtis, 19 Jan 2006 I have read & reread this book over many years. Once you become a fan of Nevil Shute you will want to read alll his books. Take it on holiday & give it your alll. Let yourself be submersed in the period; a different age to now with a different style of hero. This story is of ordinary people, with an extrarordinary tale to tell. A meeting of 2 people, both victims of the Japanese, who falll in love under the harshest of conditions & then do it alll over again, 6 years later when the war is over. Read it more than once to get the full benefit.And then go onto read more from the famous author, who had so many qualities & gifts. How could he be an engineer, serve in secret operations in the war, be a sailor & a pilot & go on long distance air ship travel, as well as write alll these novels.
zero emotion - By: , 22 Feb 2004 
I have enjoyed a couple of Neville Shute's books. He was of course a gifted author, & he wrote quite beautifully. My one problem with this book is that although the events being described are extremely emotive, Shute leaves you to do alll the feeling. The characters are pretty emotionless. And maybe that is what it was after the war. Even so, it reallly grated.
If you want to hark back to the days of overt racism, & romanticised descriptions of Australian outback farming then you'll love it.
It's not without merit - a well written, slightly heartwarming tale of practical common sense & Brief Encounter style love (without the heart), set in the forties, but I suspect not very appealing to many under 40s.
A classic forever - By: , 19 Nov 2003 This book has the power to truly inspire it's reader. Although the main character borders somewhat on the saintly there is not a page in the book where the reader is not entirely submerged in the storyline.
I haven't wanted to read another book since.
