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Description edit
The story of a young woman who survived a Japanese death march in World War II, and of an Australian soldier, also a prisoner of war, who offered to help her -- even at the cost of his life...
Also published in the US as "The Legacy."
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Summary edit
The story begins with an english lawyer (Noel) looking for the inheritor of an older clients trust. The estate ends up going to a young girl Jean (mid twenties) who is the niece of the man. Jean and Noel start to get to know each other and she shares with him her experiences during the war.... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)
Characters/People edit
- Jean Paget: Heroine of the book. She inherits a large sum of money after she was kept prisoner during the war in Malaya.
- Noel Strachan: Lawyer and Trustee of the estate that Jean inherits from her uncle. Main narrator of the story.
- Joe Harman: Australian ringer who meets Jean during the war when they are both being kept as prisoner. Later in the story he becomes a possible love interest of Jean.
- Charlie: Add a description of this character.
- Mrs Frith: A faded anaemic little woman of over fifty who was part of the group of women and children the Japanese sent on a death march around Malaya during the Japanese occupation.
- Donald Paget: Born 1918, son of Arthur and Jean Paget. Our heroine's older brother, who died in 1943 while he was a prisoner of war.
- Mrs Horsefall: A stern-faced woman, Mrs. Horsefall was a member of the women and children's death march group with whom Jean Paget traveled.
- Miss Jacqueline "Jackie" Bacon: Radio operator at the Cairns Ambulance and Fire Station.
- Bill Holland: A man of about forty, the manager of an opencast tin mine. Bill and his wife, Eileen were friends of Jean Paget's before the war and when the Malayan evacuation began Jean went to see Bill and his family, feeling that she could not leave Malaya without seeing them and offering her help with the children.
- Annie: Cook at the Australian Hotel in Willstown.
- Eileen Holland: A friend of Jean's before the war, Mrs. Holland was the wife of Mr. Holland and the mother of three children. A good mother and first-rate housewife, Mrs. Holland was "singularly unfit to travel by herself with three children."
- Captain Sugamo: The local commanding officer of Kuantan during the Japanese occupation of Malaya. His job was to oversee the evacuation of the railway material from the eastern railway in Malaya through to its shipment to Siam.
- Robin Holland: The youngest child of Bill and Eileen Holland, the baby whom Jean carries about during her death march through Malaya.
- Levy
- Rose Sawyer
- Pete Fletcher: One of the townspeople Jean meets when she first arrives in Willstown. A stockman.
- Yoniata
- Roger
- Mrs Boong: "Boong" was the nickname for a native woman. Jean Paget earned this term of affection from Joe Harman due to her wearing native dress, carrying a baby on her hip and being tanned from marching under the Malayan sun.
- Mr Pack
- Jim Lennon
- Sargeant Haines: Head of the police station in Willstown.
- Mr Barnes
- Jean Paget: Wife of Arthur Paget, sister of Douglas McFadden, who dies and leaves his money to Arthur and Jean's children, Donald (born in 1918), and Jean (born in 1921).
- Arthur Paget: An Englishman from Southampton, in Hampshire.
- Fatimah: A native woman with whom Jean Paget becomes friends in the town of Kuala Telang in Malaya.
- Don Curtis: A stockman who, like Joe Harman, works with cattle in the outback.
- Jeff Pocock: One of the townspeople in Willstown.
- Sam Small: One of the townspeople in Willstown.
- Freddie
- Derek Harris
- Billy Wakeling: Rose Sawyer's beau. A contractor from Alice who builds roads and dams.
- Al Burns: The Shell agent and truck repairer at Willstown.
- Douglas Macfadden: Son of James MacFadden. Client of Noel Strachan. MacFadden hires Noel Strachan to handle his legal affairs, including the disposition of his will. When Douglas MacFadden dies Strachan undertakes to find his heirs.
- Mrs Connor: Proprietor of the Australian Hotel in Willstown.
- Jane
- Helen
- Tim Whelan: The carpenter at Willstown.
- Bill Duncan: Shopkeeper in Willstown.
- Aggie Topp: Formerly a worker with Pack and Levy, Aggie travels to the Outback to help Jean start up her shoe-making operation.
Quotes edit
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“I'd like to do that. I never thought that after coming all this way I'd find that she'd gone walkabout.”
Joe Harman
First Sentence edit
JAMES MACFADDEN died in March 1905 when he was forty-seven years old; he was riding in the Driffield Point to Point.
Table of Contents edit
Introduction
Chapters 1 - 11
Author's note
Glossary edit
- tucker: Australian slang for food.
- ringer: Australian term for a stockman
- walkabout: Australian term for when someone leaves a place to wander off on a journey of interminable direction or span of time.
- duffer: as in cattle duffer - a cattle thief
- poddy dodger: A poddy is a calf born after the last muster and still "clean skin" (without a brand). Poddy dodgers round up poddys from other land and drive them onto their own land claiming them as their own. Without the brand, the calves can't be proven stolen.
Series & Lists edit
This is book 37 of 200 in BBC 'Big Read' Top 200 Novels, 2003. (authoritative list)
This is book 17 of 98 in Modern Library's 100 Best Novels: Reader's List. (authoritative list)
This is book 96 of 95 in Telegraph Top 100 Books, 2008. (authoritative list)
This book is in 100 Fantabulous Book Challenge. (community list)
This book is in Random Synapses: 100 Book Reading Challenge (2011). (community list)
This book is in Guardian 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read. (authoritative list)
This is book 37 of 82 in BBC "Big Read" Top 100 Novels. (authoritative list)
This is book 470 of 1286 in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (authoritative list)
Authors & Contributors edit
- Nevil Shute (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: William Heinemann
Country: England
Publication Date: 1950
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 280
Publisher: William Heinemann
Country: England
Publication Date: 1950
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 280
Awards edit
- BBC's Big Read (April 2003, #37)
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: PR6027.O54 T69
- Dewey: 823.912
Subjects edit
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Movie Connections edit
- A Town Like Alice (1956) (IMDb): Won two BAFTA awards.
- A Town Like Alice (1981) (TV mini-series) (IMDb): Made for Australian TV, nominated for Primetime Emmy.
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