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[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a_town_like_alice.jpg]]

Creator/NevilShute's 1950 novel tells the story of Jean Paget as a prisoner of war in Malaya during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and then her return to Malaya after the war, where she discovers something that leads her on the search for romance and to a small outback community in Australia. Adapted into a 1956 film and a 1981 miniseries.

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!!Contains such tropes as:
%%* BlitheSpirit: Jean Paget.
%%* TheCaretaker: Joe in Malaya, Noel in England.
%%* CitySlicker: Jean, both in Malaya and in the Outback.
%%* {{Cowboy}}: Joe does this for a living.
%%* FlorenceNightingaleEffect: Sort of, Joe isn't a doctor but he is TheCaretaker.
* AFriendInNeed: Joe, the Old Japanese Soldier, and the village headman who takes them in.
* GoingNative: The women live out the war by picking rice in a Malayan village.
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Noel does this knowing he is too old for Jean. Joe does this at first thinking Jean is married.
%%* LandDownUnder
%%* ObstructiveBureaucrat: The Japanese Army.
%%* OfficerAndAGentleman: The first Japanese officer they meet.
%%* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: The sadistic Japanese commandant is obsessed with being this.
%%* {{Rancher}}: Joe Bannock, though he didn't own it til the end.
* UpperClassTwit: The rubber plantation owner's wife who only thinks it necessary to learn enough Malayan to give orders to the servants.
%%* WastelandElder: The Malayan headman.
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