This hardback anthology was bought second-hand for me by my husband's cousin Bill many years ago. I have read most if not all of the stories in it, some of them more than once e.g. A Town Like Alice. As the book is big and heavy it would be difficult for me to handle nowadays. Therefore I'm registering it to send it on its travels soon.
The stories in the book are:- A Town Like Alice
Pied Piper
The Far Country
The Chequer Board and
No Highway

This book was posted to another bookcrosser today as a surprise RABCK. I hope they enjoy it as much as I did.

To the finder:-
Welcome to bookcrossing -you have found a travelling book. Please make a journal entry now to say where you found the book in case it has been moved. Then, when you have read it, please come back and make a further entry saying whether or not you enjoyed the book and why. It is now yours to do as you like with it, pass it to a friend or just leave it somewhere different for someone else to find and help it with its' journey. Of course if you can't bear to part with it at the moment then keep it, but please let me know that you have found it. If you join bookcrossing, which is free and spam-free, you can follow the book on its' travels as you will get an email each time it changes hands, but if you prefer to remain anonymous, that's fine too. Please also say what you intend to do with the book next. Thanks for coming onto the site to let me know you have found the book.

I already have books travelling in many countries around the world-a list can be found on my bookcrossing profile.

When re-releasing this book please be aware that airports are not a good place to leave books unless they have a specific book exchange shelf or area, due to security problems, so they may well just be disposed of. Also charity shops may well discard books that have been labelled in any way and they mostly chose only the books in the very best condition
to place on their shelves and discard the rest-so another bad release option.

This RABCK was waiting for me when I got in from work. Although I know the author and have heard of a couple of the stories I haven't as yet read any of them. I will probably read one at a time rather than all at one go. Thanks for sharing.

Pied Piper

I found this a poignant tale of love, loss and loneliness where the Nazis are only the indirect enemy. Instead, the plot centres around the frailties of age, both in the very old and in the very young. Howard's weak heart, Sheila's and Ronnie's heedless English chatter coupled with their slow painful progress supplies much of the story's tension. The characters are well drawn, the prose is sparse but beautifully effective but perhaps what is most remarkable is that this story was first published in 1942, only two years after the events that it portrays supposedly happened and whilst WWII was still raging, its final outcome still unknown. This story speaks of another gentler age and deserves to be more widely read.

The Far Country

First published in 1952 shortly after Shute himself had emigrated to Australia, 'The Far Country' is essentially a romance but not simply one between a man and a woman but also with a new country.

In my opinion Shute is a gifted writer who includes a good deal of relevant and interesting details to the locations and characters in his stories but in this particular tale you can also plainly see his disenchantment with the 'old country'. In contrast Australia seems to be some form of utopia to his readers where all you need to succeed is to work hard. In particular he seems to blame the new Socialist government and its recently formed National Health Service for all its problems. All of which seems a little simplistic.

I found this as interesting if rather predictable tale that was nowhere near as enjoyable as the previous story by the author that I read, 'Pied Piper'.