At least she improved over time, especially when she took the orphaned Johnnie under her wing. And she certainly grew to appreciate Joe – went from being disdainful of him to thinking he was the reincarnation of Jesus.
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I thought it unlikely that they would have continued to speak Malay back in England, but I know lots of foreign service kids who learned the language of their country from their caretakers. I was sent to a Japanese kindergarten, sadly I went to an international school where the instructional language was English and I don’t remember almost nothing.
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Sometimes, I would get so immersed in the story that I would forget Noel was narrating. And then he would interject “I this-or-that” and it would be a little bit of a jolt. At certain points, he must have taken some serious poetic license:
Standing in his arms still unresisting, smothered by his kisses, she thought, this is It. And then she thought, it had to happen sometime, and I’m glad it’s Joe. And then she thought, It’s not his fault, I brought this on myself. And then she thought, I must sit down or something, or I’ll be stark-naked, and at that she escaped backwards from his arms and sat down on the bed (p. 160).
I know Noel and Jean were very close, and wrote long letters to one another, but I doubt that was the content. 
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Well, the Noel-telling-Jean’s-story was just a device, of course. Other authors do similar things.
In the mini-series, which I thought really improved the story, Mrs. Frith sends a telegram to Jean and Joe’s wedding, wishing them God’s blessings and other deity-related good wishes. Very much in character!
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Enjoyed the book, started it months ago, when so many claimed to love it when we selected the last book.
Put it down at one point for while, and recently finished it for this discussion.
This will be a book I remember. This is such a female centric story, based on Mrs Geysel- Vonck, who endured remarkable suffering, in Nevil Shute’s uplifting story, Jean finds love, she finds a mission, and purpose, and lives a fulfilling, meaningful life.
I just loved the “heart and soul” of this journey. I will say two previous books helped me appreciate Jean. I kept thinking about true life story of Dr Paul Farmer and his good works in Haiti, in Mountains Beyond Mountains, by Tracy Kidder.
And, I adored Bill Bryson’s depiction of Australia “ In A Sunburned Country”- really got a sense of that huge, magnificant country.
I didn’t like the denigrating terms, but overall, regarding sexism, I thought Shute portrayed some progressive attitudes, Jeans acceptance and support of the pregnant girl, and her successful mission to provide a better life for the women of Willstown. She rode on the horse for forty hours, - a true heroine !
I got confused about Noel’s intentions, in the movie, he was smitten with Jean, in the book he seemed like a fatherly benefactor overseeing her inheritance,
Like Mary13, I related to this person who has lived his life, and reflects on what might have been, as his time winds down. It’s a wider view of Jean’s life, a life well lived, from Noel’s perspective.
Why I’ll remember this book, Shute’s Jean Paget based on this real person …………….
“In 1949 I stayed with Mr and Mrs J.G. Geysel-Vonck at Palembang in Sumatra. Mrs Geysel had been a member of that party. When she was taken prisoner she was a slight, pretty girl of twenty-one, recently married; she had a baby six months old, and a very robust sense of humour.
In the years that followed Mrs Geysel marched over twelve hundred miles carrying her baby, in circumstances similar to those which I have described. She emerged from this fantastic ordeal undaunted, and with her son fit and well.”
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I think it was both. He’s in denial much of the time, and would never act on his love, but it comes up a couple of times. The first I remember is this. He’s been going on and on telling a friend about Jean at his club:
“And then he said a very foolish thing. He meant it well enough, but it was a stupid thing to say. I got up and left him to my dark empty flat, and I avoided meeting him for some time after that. I was seventy-three years old that autumn, old enough to be her grandfather. I couldn’t possibly have been in love with her myself.”
The second is the way the book ends:
[I have been dreaming] “Of a girl that I met forty years too late, and of her life in that small town that I shall never see again, that holds so much of my affection.”
Of course there’s a bit of irony there. If Noel had been forty years younger and had somehow gotten the girl, she would not have had the chance to blossom the way she did in Australia. She was capable, but her lack of education would have been a hindrance if she had remained in the UK. And if she’d ended up with someone like Noel, she would probably have been a full time housewife.
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Well, I think Noel liked her so much because of her “pluck.” Perhaps she would have been a full-time housewife, as befitted a potential wife of a man like Noel, but I’m certain she would have done Good Deeds anyway. Founded an orphanage or something.
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I know we’re talking about the book, but it seems a lot of us have also watched the miniseries. I enjoyed the miniseries, but there was one scene that really bothered me. That scene was when Jean kissed Noel. In the book it was clear Noel was falling in love with Jean. On Jean’s side, I felt she saw Noel more in a fatherly way. Her love for him was platonic, so that kiss made me uncomfortable.
That scene (or at least a very similar one) is also in the book:
Before I could realize what she was doing, she had slipped an arm round my shoulders and kissed me on the lips. “That’s for the flowers, Noel,” she said softly. “For the flowers, and for everything you’ve done for me.” And I was so dumbfounded and confused that all I could find to say to her was, “I’ll have another of those when you come back” (p. 82).
It made me uncomfortable, too, but mostly because I felt pity for Noel. I think Jean had the best intentions: She wanted him to know that he was a wonderful man – even on some level a desirable one, despite the age difference.
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Thanks for finding that @Mary13 . I had forgotten that scene in the book. I guess it felt more innocent in the book and didn’t make a lasting impression.
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I feel like the kiss was meant as a gift and a thank you; in no way romantic on Jean’s part. The miniseries played up Noel’s role, likely because of the Gordon Jackson casting. Am I the only one who kept thinking, Hudson, don’t do it!
A kiss on the cheek would have been SO much more appropriate!
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Gordon Jackson of the mini-series was only about 20 years older than Helen Morse. Did you notice they changed the voiceover at the end to “…the girl I met twenty years too late”? In the book, there’s a 40 year age difference, so the kiss would be less romantic (for Jean, that is – Noel’s a goner no matter his age).
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I’ll give a solid thumbs-up for Mrs. Frith. I’m not sure the group would have made it without her.
As time went on, Jean turned to Mrs. Frith more and more for comfort and advice in their predicaments.
Mrs. Frith advises Jean to keep walking away from the swampy place to the healthier coast; she also encourages the group to keep going as they walk by talking about the coastal area.
Later Mrs. Frith suggests they try to stay put in Kuala Telang. Most importantly, Mrs. Frith comes up with the idea of the women working the rice paddies in exchange for living there. Jean didn’t think of it herself though she is the one who needs to carry it to those in command. Ultimately it is what saves the group; they couldn’t have continued walking indefinitely.
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I liked the book and am glad we read it. Interestingly I had never heard of it before. Will look for the miniseries.
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Not to me. A fiction impresses more if it rings true. It can remove inconvenient everyday doldrums and add minor miracles. Elevating someone to a “god” makes it less interesting. It makes everything too easy, the hero swishes a wand et voila problem solved. A bit too easy, intellectually lazy even.
One of the things I loved about this book is that nothing tragic happened after Joe and Jean reunited. I was totally rooting for them to catch a break and have everything go their way. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop during the deluge and was so happy that they got their happy ending.
Personally I really enjoy having a feel good book every now and then!
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You can feel good without making it too fantastic. Actually, it’s a bit depressing to think that to feel good it has to be unrealistic. I would have ended the book at the end of the first half. Make second half less detailed, just summarize life after the inheritance, as in they met and lived happily ever after? To me, the second half was trying too hard. How about Jean goes off to Asia and Joe turns up telling his side of the story and runs off to meet Jean. The author hears about them afterwards through an acquaintance to finish the story?
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I enjoyed the book. I remember seeing the series years ago, but didn’t really remember it. The first part was good. Given how brutal the Japanese were during WWII, it was lucky that any of the women or children survived. This book was published just 5 years after WWII. Memories were very fresh. Actually, it was good to see that at least one of the Japanese guards were humane.
I enjoyed most of the last part of the book. It was good to see good old entrepreneurship save the day. Jean really was an entrepreneur in the best meaning of the word. She hired the girls for the shoe factory and also provided them housing. The ice cream parlor for entertainment. She was very astute. With all sorts of regulations today, I am not sure that someone could start all of the businesses that she did.
The part that I really didn’t enjoy was when she was traveling between all of the different towns waiting for Joe.
All in all, I am glad that I read the book. Very good choice. I give it a 4 out of 5 star rating.
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Agree, that is when I put the book down for quite a while, @silverlady, and why, I also, gave it a four star rating.
The most fantastical part for me, was when Joe went to England and Jean to Australia is search of one another. Of course, this gave Noel a chance to meet Joe.
But, really the most incredible part of the book - was the March, as The part that I really didn’t enjoy was when she was traveling between all of the different towns waiting for Joe., the true inspiration for the novel.
I was ready for uplifting, happy ending sort of book. It’s dated and not one I would recommend to modern readers, but one I will fondly remember.
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