A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute

What a marvelous book!  I really loved it.  It is the story of Jean Paget told from the point of view of her trustee.  Miss Paget is working in Malaya during the second world war and is taken prisoner by the Japanese.  The women and children she is with are not put into a prison camp but are instead marched all over the country, dying on the way.  She survives the war and then receives an inheritance from an uncle.  She heads to the Australian outback where she helps build a "town like Alice" Springs.  It is interesting to read descriptions of Malaya and the Australian outback and the way life is lived there.  It is an intriguing story that is very different from my daily life but still feels completely believable.  It is definitely worth the time.