Nevil Shute’s most beloved novel, a tale of love and war, follows its enterprising heroine from the Malayan jungle during World War II to the rugged Australian outback.

Jean Paget, a young Englishwoman living in Malaya, is captured by the invading Japanese and forced on a brutal seven-month death march with dozens of other women and children. A few years after the war, Jean is back in England, the nightmare behind her. However, an unexpected inheritance inspires her to return to Malaya to give something back to the villagers who saved her life. But it turns out that they have a gift for her as well: the news that the young Australian soldier, Joe Harmon, who had risked his life to help the women, had miraculously survived. Jean’s search for Joe leads her to a desolate Australian outpost called Willstown, where she finds a challenge that will draw on all the resourcefulness and spirit that carried her through her war-time ordeals.

内维尔•舒特(1899—1960)，英国作家，航空工程师。他出生于英国，曾是航空工程师，会驾驶飞机，参与设计和制造过著名的R100飞艇，二战时在伦敦从事秘密的海军工作，战后移民澳大利亚。写小说是他的业余爱好，但获得了极大的成功。在二十世纪五六十年代，他是世界上最畅销的小说家之一。他喜欢把航空知识和战时经历写进小说中，他的作品风格简洁、明晰，故事性强。主题涉及反战、爱情等。故事的叙述者往往是一个局外人。他一生所著小说二十余部，主要作品有《海滨》、《像爱丽丝的小镇》、《花衣吹笛手》及《来自工具间的受托人》等。内维尔•舒特有生之年卖出了1500万册书。

叶雷，广东珠海人，成长于海边小镇，喜爱文学，尤其中国古典文学。曾任职于北京第二外国语学院，讲授英语和中国文化课程。现在澳门大学进修。