The Far Country

I have yet to read a book by Nevil Shute novel that will not let his generosity and kindness, his understated, amiable nature shine through and illuminate the saddest and depressing themes. The Far Countryis no exception. It is a delicate and touching love story between two young, lonely souls, but the background and inspiration for the novel is anchored in what is probably the most difficult decision the writer had to take in his life: to abandon his own homeland and immigrate to the far side o [...]

I LOVE this author! He is an excellent story teller that manages to tell a wonderfully engaging tale without any vile language and sex. This story revolves around a young British girl in the early days after World War II when times are hard and changing in Britain. This is full of excellent discussions, from a completely British perspective, on the social and political changes after the country was left devastated by 2 world wars. This is a wonderful story that I have found myself returning to a [...]

I’ve been planning on reading this for a couple of years, but somehow something else always takes its place! And when I finally picked it up from the library, I foolishly almost judged it by its cover - well, that and its font style and size, which looked a little old-fashioned, boring and uninspiring. But it really is a good story. It started slowly, but it picked up through the second chapter and after that it was very easy to read.The author’s descriptions of the Australian countryside ar [...]

In "Far Country," Shute creates a love story of warmth, realism, and charming inevitability. What I love about a Nevil Shute novel is the absolutely unsentimental way in which it relates a seemingly sentimental tale. In Nevil Shute's world, you can have a man and a woman and a buzzing, unraveling story of their developing affections (what would normally be a recipe for a sentimental disaster), but never once does it ooze "cheese factor" or an over-the-top pomposity. Instead, you find yourself ro [...]

In its way, it's a relatively simple story, but I love Shute's style. He tells a story gently, lovingly and at the same time, matter of factly (Is that a proper word? :0)). At its core it's a love story, but it represents its time as well. Set after WWII, England is struggling to feed its people, life is hard; whereas in counterpoint, in Australia, the frontier so to speak, life is pretty good, wool prices are high, money is good, there is work available. Helen goes to England at the request of [...]

One of Nevil Shute's better books. If you've read any of his better books before, you'll want to read this one. To any of my friends who haven't read Nevil Shute before, I recommend him. His books inspire me to feel better about the human race, without ever getting sappy. I've read most of his books, and so far every one has been a good read. Several have been made into movies, some of which were good, and some weren't. I should mention that some of his earlier books weren't the greatest, and On [...]

I enjoy his writing style a lot. It's very practical, and without my realizing it, he has given me a beautiful and (I imagine) accurate picture of the people and places of that little corner of Australia. I'd like to visit there one day, for sure. I'm sure it's very different now than what it was (just like the USA is different now than in 1950), but all the same, I'd like to visit there.His characters are very plain and that makes them very endearing. The heroine isn't some 'beauty', but has be [...]

I know I read all of Nevil Shute's books, but I don't remember this one at all. I was very glad to read it again and remembered one part when I came upon it this time: the part where Jennifer starts managing her father's doctor practice within the National Health Service. I think I was confusing this book with In the Wet. The ending seemed like Shute may have been planning a sequel, but I am not sure and don't remember ever seeing one.This is a book about normal people going about their normal l [...]

I really loved this book ! It is such a sweet love story ! I loved the descriptions of Australia so much it made want to go there! It was romantic love story with a little mystery thrown in. Also, some history of post war England thrown n. Shute painted England as dark ,dreary, and dirty. Australia was painted as place very beautiful rife with beautiful country sides, colorful birds with no natural preys. The people are very contented and peaceful. Briefly, it is story of an English girl who goe [...]

An interesting story contrasting the promise of post-WWII Australia and the poverty of Great Britain during the same period. It's by no means a page turner but it's well-written and the people are worth caring about.

Superbly written, gentle story of Australia in the '50s, contrasting with the ravages that Europe was still suffering after the end of WWII. Shute paints a landscape with words, but does not become overly sentimental.

In Australia Jane and Jack Dorman own a prosperous sheep farm, or station. For the past few years most of the money they earned has gone to pay off loans and debts, but now, for the first time the wool money is all theirs, and its been a good year for selling wool. But Jane is worried about her aunt back in England. Aunt Ethel was the only family member who supported her in her decision to marry an Australian and leave England, they still exchange letters, and in Ethel’s latest she mentioned l [...]

The story is laid partly in London and partly in Australia. It is set in 1950.blurbs - Jennifer Morton, a young girl from Leicester but living in London, witnesses the death of her grandmother, the widow of a retired Indian civil servant. Her pension has ceased and she has literally starved to death, despite her apparent prosperity. Before she dies, she leaves to Jennifer a small sum of money sent by a niece in Australia, and asks that Jennifer uses the money to visit Australia and Jane and Jack [...]

Nevil Shute is one of my favourite authors, but this book is not one of his best. An alternate title could be, "England is a miserable place; Move to Australia," co-sponsored by the Australia Immigration Bureau and Winston Churchill/Tory reelection campaign.The story of the characters was really nice, and the book is interesting when read as a reflection of how the British middle class viewed post-war socialism, but I found the politics extremely biased and quite distracting. Oh the good old day [...]

England about 1951, suffering from fog, pollution, rationing and other after-effects following World War 2. In total contrast Australia, where with wool exports hitting record highs making sheep farmers very wealthy, plus there is sunshine, individualism, freedom and a positive outlook. In this story Nevil Shute weaves together the two contrasting scenarios through family connections on both sides of the world. I found it interesting to reflect upon what the life in England was at that time as h [...]

I was willing to move along slowly with this story and its disparate characters, all well-realized and believable, but I had the impression that the author himself was not focused on pulling his plot together. It is interesting to realize that ranking this, I had a hard time giving it a low score because of the friendly understandable world he let me share, yet so many elements were dropped, events critical to the characters happened off-stage, and the ending did not feel like one.

Although this is only the third Nevil Shute book I've read he is quickly rising to the top of my favorite author list. The is a certain brevity and purity in his writing that I have seldom seen elsewhere. He will quickly have you vested in his characters and unable to put down the book. Even though the time period he is writing about is sixty years ago the themes and problems transend both time and setting.

Es un libro bien escrito, muy entretenido, cada personaje es memorable.

The Far Country is the third Nevil Shute's book I've read and from the very beginnning of it I clearly understood why I love them so much and why from time to time I have this feeling of wanting to read some of his works. I love the characters of his books, I love that they're always so good, honest, and simple people. Reading his books I always have nice and warm feeling that this is definitely my thing, my type of book, and I enjoy it a lot. Honestly, I expected a different plot, and when I re [...]

This was an enjoyable book. Very different it was published in 1952. I love almost any book about Australia! This was fun to read about the romance between the characters. They were so "proper" in their relationship. Barely a kiss before their engagement and absolutely no touching except holding hands. They were exploring and researching an old gold mining town and ALWAYS referred to the women working the saloons as the "naughty" women. It was really rather refreshing and you know, the romance [...]

I read this for the first time in 2017. I had read A Town Like Alice back in the 1980s when the miniseries showed on Masterpiece Theatre (argh, I wish they'd release it on DVD or BluRay). I read a few others by Shute in later years but nothing recently although I collected copies as I found them. I really enjoyed the Far Country. There's some racism (against the New Australians--immigrants from the displaced persons camps post-WWII) and I feel like I should say, of course, no Aborigines in sight [...]

First published in 1952; a young English woman unexpectedly travels to Australia and begins her visit at a station in the outback. The lack of medical personnel brings her in contact with a gentleman who was a doctor in Europe during the war, but Australia does not allow him to practice unless he goes back to school for 3 years. Consequently, he is working as an indentured lumberman for 2 years, and thinks he will no longer be a doctor. Lumber accidents require SOMEbody to help medically, so .

A good storyNevil Shuts is a forgotten author today, and that's sad. This is a well-written, well-plotted story with good characters. It's message of hope and love is not usual in this day and it's wonderfully refreshing.

Nevil Shute, what else can I say. I love his writing.

Nevil Shute never fails to deliver. At least he hasn't yet failed in the 11 books of his that I read. This wasn't quite so good, perhaps, as some of the previous ones because if felt a bit polemic in parts. But, none-the-less, it was surely a GoodRead.Much of the story revolves around a "station" in Victoria, southeastern Australia, not too far from Melbourne. A station was a sheep ranch. Jack and Jane Dorman had struggled for quite some time to get situated, but in the past few years (1950+/-), [...]

"He is a bad man and not serious, only when he cuts off people's legs and they die. I do not know why you go out with him."This novel should have been titled "The Virtues Of Australia in the mid-1950s" or "Oh, Carl!" (the amount of times that line was repeated, I wouldn't like to count).Jokes aside, this was a nice way to spend a boring afternoon. It's a simple story, nothing spectacular and nothing particularly engrossing, about a young woman discovering a sense of belonging 12,000 miles from h [...]

Another lovely, warm and cosy book by Nevil Shute. Pleasantly enjoyable with lovable characters as always, Shute's writing is understated, easy and flowing. Towards the end, the writing becomes more narrative instead of the characters actively engaging in conversations and this actually helps to build up the emotional appeal of the story. Shute's writing style is a far cry from the theatrics adopted by modern day writers, more like a vintage wine that only a privileged few are able to enjoy and [...]

I recently re-read this book after many years. It is still a lovely read, set in the years following WWII, about an English girl's experience of life in rural Australia. The novel provides an interesting picture of the late 1940s and early 1950s, however one could be forgiven for imagining that the author was being paid to boost migration from England to Australia.England, destroyed by war, socialism and the new Health Service, shows little hope of recovery. Food shortages are a constantly recur [...]

It is funny how I have missed out reading some authors for such a long time. For some reason, I hadn’t come across Nevil Shute, until recently. I had loved his ‘A Town like Alice’, so when I found another of his books, I just had to grab it.Jennifer is living in Post-War London. Life is tough in the UK, with all the rationing and the difficulties of a war ravaged nation. Britain is struggling to even feed its people. Jennifer comes to into some money unexpectedly, from her grandmother, who [...]

Right before I read this book I was reading Nevil Shute's Pied Piper and thought I'd give this a go because I was curious about the characters. Reflecting back on the opening of this book, I thought of Shakespeare's Hamlet, where you see a some narrative about a character we don't hear much about for the rest of the book. (Therefore: if you started reading it and didn't like it, keep going until you get into the meat of the story.)Even though we don't live in the time period this story takes pla [...]