A Town Like Alice

An all around good, satisfying read that didn't turn sappy when a bit of a love story came into the plot. I found the myself pretty interested in the details of how rice is grown and harvested, or how Australian outback stations are run, or how a town can be grown out of pretty uninspiring beginnings. I wasn't surprised to read that the author was an engineer. :-)

I wasn't aware of the WWII battles in Malaysia, and the roles Britain played there. This book's historical detail opened my eyes.

The book is definitely dated with some pretty crude attitudes toward aborigines, women and other cultures. But, I really came to like the main character and initiator of all progress in the book, a strong woman named Jean Paget.