A Town Like Alice

By: Nevil Shute

Narrated by: Neil Hunt

Length: 12 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

Eight hundred women and children begin a 1,200-mile journey on foot across Japanese-occupied Malaya. At journey’s end, only 30 will still be alive. This is the story of one woman, of her ordeal, and of how she was saved by the sacrifice of an Australian soldier. It is a story of rare individual courage in the face of certain death, and hope in the face of despair.

©1950 William Morrow & Co, Inc. (P)1990 Recorded Books

Like a trip to Australia

This is a very interesting story, from war and prisoners of war, to love, money, and town building in Australia. An elderly man tells the story of the young woman he met whose life it is he finds interwoven with his.

Really enjoyable and informative

Really enjoyed this audiobook. Performance was outstanding. Learned a lot about the history presented and it really kept my attention.

Historical Novel

800 women are forced to walk 1200 miles by the Japanese in Malaysia/Sumatra and 30 survive the ordeal. The British, Dutch and assorted other women were captured by the Japanese with the fall of Malaya and Dutch Indochina unfortunately because they were civilian, history forgot about their ordeal as POWs. This story, based the first part of the story by featuring a British woman during the marching ordeal and tells her story as a historical novel. The second part of the story tell of what happened to her after the war. The courage she showed to survive and the development of her leadership and negotiation skills in helping others to also survive is a good foundation for what she does after the war. She goes to England and works for 3 years and her great uncle dies and leaves her a trust. She then goes to Malaysia and builds a well to help the villagers that help her during the war and then off to Australia to find a Aussie solder that helped them. She stay in Australia and becomes a business women. The skills learned during the war helps her in Queensland outback. This story provides many lessons for those who want to learn and a great story for those who want entertainment. Neil Hunt did a great job with all the accent narrating this story. You will enjoy this book.

World War 2 did not know about you / nonfiction

The story has stuck with me/taught/informed about a time I did not know about.
Went out with some friends from Australia - they could not get over that I did not know the book 1951 and I did not feel it dated. Just explains so much about a country and humans.

Heartwarming and Satisfying

This is a heartwarming and satisfying love story. Only 4 stars because of dated and sometimes racist language but I still love the story.

Just a classic

Loved it--had always heard of this book but never read it. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Definitely don't understand the cover art though--the main character is a "very white" English girl ... because of the cover, I kept waiting for this character to show up, and she never did!

Great book. Greater narrator.

Shute's style of flashbacks and current storyline is really good. Neil Hunt is a master narrator. He nailed the English, Scottish, and Aussie accents.

Unabridged version

I did not realize the previous audible version was actually a Abridged which was narrated by Robin Bailey who is probably a slightly better narrator the Neal Hunt who did this version but I definitely prefer this one over the previous version I do not know why they chopped 2 hours off a book for no reason

Classic and still entertaining

Although this was written in 1950 shortly after WWII, it still a great story. It is really so much a war novel, but a love story. The writing is excellent as well as the narration. It does start a little slow but picks up the pace. It will be enjoyed by both men and women. Another book I found very similar was the Potato Factory which is another great book set in Australia and England.

I would also recommend this to Teens, especially girls since the major character and heroine is a woman. Jean Paget shows both courage, wisdom, and dedication. English by birth she is captured in Malaysia during WWII as must march hundreds of miles with other women as prisoners of the Japanese Army. This part of the war (malaysia) is often overlooked because it involved the British more than America. It was also a mini series at one time. I remember seeing it on TV a decade or so ago. Another similar book set in the same time period is Empire of the Sun , which is another great read.

Finally Got Around to This One

Initially, I was totally captivated by this story of Jean Padgett, a young English woman working in Malaya who became a Japanese prisoner of war. The hardships that the women and children endured during their trek to one nonexistent prison camp after another and the alternating kindness and inhumanity of their captors kept me reading (well, listening; this was an audiobook) at a rapid pace. Under such an unlikely circumstances, one wouldn't expect to fall in love, but we do sense that it is happening to Jean when she means a resourceful Australian named Joe Harmon. But the war intervenes . . .

The novel opens with the narrator, a solicitor, tracking down Jean to tell her that she has just come into an inheritance, and it is to Noah that Jean tells her story. After hearing all she endured, he could hardly be more surprised when Jean tells him her plans for the money: to return to Malaya.

I won't spoil the book by telling what happens next, but there are quite a few surprises in store. I have to admit that the last third of the novel--the part that reflects the title--was somewhat less interesting to me. Still, this is one of those books whose title was familiar but about which I knew nothing, and overall, it was worthwhile.