I always assumed Nevil Shute was an Australian author, probably due to my familiarity with his novel A Town Like Alice (which I should note is a novel I know a little about but have not yet read, but of course have somewhere in my own stack of books), as it is set in Australia. Shute, however, was born in Britain and only after WWII emigrated to Australia. My library has almost a shelf worth of books by him, and as they sit on the end of a range of shelves slightly above eye level I quite often find myself passing them on my way to grab something else.
Apparently his books were bestsellers in the 1950s and 60s, though it seems he's somewhat neglected these days. Interestingly the Wikipedia (okay, I know the wikipedia is not the best resource but for a very general introduction there is usually some interesting tidbits to be had) Shute's most famous novel is On the Beach, which is an apocalyptic novel depicting the effects of an atom bomb in Australia. It sounds very bleak indeed, so I opted for a novel called Pastoral. The Times called it "one of the happiest books which war has called into being." Pastoral is a love story set in an Oxfordshire airbase during WWII. Much pleasanter, don't you think?
This particular edition was published in 1944 by William Morrow & Co. I'd never seen this little symbol in a book before. The little banner says "books are weapons in the war of ideas" and the blurb reads "This complete edition is produced in full compliance with the government's regulations for conserving paper and other essential materials". So I guess William Morrow was doing their part for the war effort! The story begins:
"Peter Marshall stirred in the broad light of day and work up slowly. The pale sun of February streamed into his narrow room, a gold streak crossing the foot of his bed and lighting on the deal washstand. He saw the sunlight through half-opened eyes, then closed them again to ease the dazzle. He could not close his ears. He heard, passing away above his head, the high scream of an ungeared engine in fine pitch, and automatically his mind said, 'Harvard'. He listened, tense even in his torpor, till the note dropped as the unseen pilot changed to course and throttled back a little; then he relaxed and pressed his head more deeply in the pillow."
I've been in the mood for a book with an Australian setting (was just this week contemplating reading another Phyrne Fisher msytery), so perhaps I'll bring home another book by Nevil Shute soon (or dig out my copy of A Town Like Alice). Have you read Shute? Or do you have a favorite book set in Australia?