REVIEW: THE FAR COUNTRY by Nevil Shute

More wandering around the world by author Nevil Shute. This time to Australia. There must have been a lot of his own feelings in this novel about his reasons for leaving England for Australia, which he did in 1950. He paints an interesting picture of life in Australia for new arrivals of Brits.
After a few opening scenes in Australia, the theme begins in England with, Jennifer Morton, the daughter of a doctor visiting her grandmother and finding her in dire straits. The old women is poverty stricken, hungry and emaciated. Due to the government-run healthcare system being poorly run and low on funds, she cannot get admitted to hospital.
Through luck and good intentions by the Australian part of the family, Jennifer ends up taking a cruise to see them on the other side of the world. She is thoroughly impressed with that country, and after meeting an interesting immigrant who had served in the war with the German Army as a doctor, she wants to stay there.
Due to unforeseen events Jennifer’s world is turned upside down and all her dreams are ruined. In usual Shute style, there instances of fantasy and coincidence, enriching the tale.
In The Far Country, Shute slams the Socialist system in Britain and failing government healthcare system. Shute’s criticism ruffled a few feathers in Britain and he was accused of being disloyal. I think Nevil Shute loved England all his life, especially the British people. In truth, Nevil Shute was a great patriot who loved Britain and the Empire where, with work, all people could prosper. It was the political system he abhorred. One senses bitterness in his narrative. ‘Will Britain ever be great again?’ he seems to ask.
He also talks about how people were not eating well in Britain and how food was rationed. I remember the old rationing books myself. Labour Party Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, was hailed as a genius in managing Britain’s post war economy. Shute might have argued that England would have prospered sooner under a free market Capitalist system.
In describing Jennifer, he says: "She had been brought up in the belief that money spent by the rich came out of the pockets of the poor, and she had never seriously questioned that. But in Australia, it seemed, there were very few poor people, if any."
I like how NS describes Jennifer going to London before leaving for Australia and her turmoil over leaving that fabulous city before boarding the ship. I had similar feelings myself before leaving it many years ago.