A Town Like Alice

Some odd 1950s social attitudes caught me by surprise when I re-read this much-loved book from my past (what are those bruises all about?). Don’t let this put you off this wonderful story of courage and hardship as Jean Paget, an ordinary woman is swept up in the Japanese invasion of Malaya, faces terrible hardships in her group of female prisoners. Starving and sick, they are helped by an Australian, Sgt Joe Harman, also a prisoner, but his kindness results in the most terrible retribution. To say more would ruin the shock of this fabulous story, but I guarantee that… show more.

This is an oldie, but a goodie. I read this years ago and found myself completely engaged as the heroine is driven across the Malayan landscape and eventually finds herself in Australia. The struggle for survival, the determination, the sacrifice, it will linger in your heart and mind. 

If you enjoy rooting for characters who have all the odds against them, unique settings, and an ending that seems almost too good to be true then grab a copy of A Town Called Alice and go to Malaya with Jean Paget, you won’t be sorry. 

The first half of this book is a fictionalized account of a true story of colonial women and children who had been en route under Japanese guard to a World War II prison camp in Malaya. When their Japanese guard died before they found the camp, the women and children were now without an escort, and were in effect prisoners of their own inability to manage by themselves in the jungles of inland Malaya. Under a competent, courageous young Englishwomen, they found shelter in a Malay village, where they had to learn to make themselves welcome guests to villagers who… show more.