Backbencher

A Town like Alice is a novel written by Nevil Shute of which a movie was later made in 1954. The story is about an British woman named Jean who was taken captive during WWII. She eventually meets man named Joe (who is from Australia), and they begin to form a very close relationship. At one point, she ends up thinking that Joe is killed. After the war, she comes into some money (inheritance $) and goes on with her life until she finds out that Joe could still be alive. She decides to go looking for Joe in Australia. Meanwhile Joe is indeed alive and goes looking for her in England. Eventually the two cross pathes again, get together again, and basically live happily ever after.

While I did see the movie before I read the book, I think that I enjoyed the book more (as people usually do). It seemed more in-depth and helped me understand this period of WWII that I really have no idea about. The romance between Joe and Jean was really very interesting, especially when they were prisoners. At first I found myself worried that Joe might have died (when I watched the movie), but after reading further I kind of liked how they go searching for each other. I liked how they didn't give up on each other and how it all ended well (I hate depressing endings).

Overall, this book is fairly dated but still fun to read. It gives you a view of what Australians thought back in the 50's during the war. I would rate it 7 or 8 out of 10.