A Town Called Alice
Nevil Shute
314 pages
published in 1950.

The first book I read by Nevil Shute was On the Beach, which I read more out of duty then for pleasure for my English list. Various people on rasfw mentioned Shute every now and again in a favourable light, so I searched some of his books out.

A Town Called Alice is a sort of romance novel, but written in Shute's own understated, efficient and lean style. It's mostly the story of Jean Paget, who was taken captive by the Japanese in World War II and ultimately had to take charge of a group of female prisoners and ensure their survival. During this, she meets an Aussie pilot and after the war, when she has inherited a small fortune, she goes and look him up in Alice Springs.

Very readable.