A Town Like Alice

“A Town Like Alice” is a novel where love and war, journeys and adventures are intertwined with the story of personal success. Inspired by real events, the work is rightly considered one of the best by Nevil Shute. The book has been repeatedly adapted for film, and was also included in the list of the 100 best novels of the 20th century by the Modern Library publishing house.

At the center of the plot is Jean Padget, an Englishwoman with a complicated past. She spent her childhood in Malaya; during World War II she ended up in a Japanese camp, where she met Australian prisoner of war Joe Harman. From him, Jean first heard about Alice Springs—a small outpost of civilization in the very heart of Australia.

Years later, life brings Jean to a tiny Australian settlement. Having fallen in love with its residents, she decides to do everything in her power to turn this place into a city like Alice.