Rating: 5 stars
Cover synopsis: A tale of love and war, follows its enterprising heroine from the Malayan jungle during World War II to the rugged Australian outback.
I love when I can find a good, clean, feel-good novel that's not boring! A Town Like Alice follows Jean Paget from a death march in Malaya during WWII, to post-war London, to the Australian outback. She's a wonderful character -- strong, independent and level-headed, but still generous and feminine.
This book's got it all: drama, romance, history, adventure...my only (minor) complaint was that the novel seemed to hit its climax 2/3 of the way through the book. And the main twist in the story is revealed on the back cover. (Who writes those things?!!!) The last part of the book was neatly wrapped up, but there weren't any more surprises. You knew exactly how it was going to end. But I didn't mind too much, because it ended exactly how I, as a reader who cared about these characters, wanted it to end.
