I am a big fan of old English paperbacks, especially Ian Fleming and Nevil Shute novels. Something about them is just timeless. Landfall is a good example of a Nevil Shute book, combining a war story and a romance. Here we have Jerry Chambers, a hapless RAF Anson pilot who is involved in a friendly fire incident while courting Mona Stevens, a barmaid. After sinking the British sub, he skips town to join Bomber Command, ending the romance, only to redeem himself later in the book while involved in secret testing flying a Vickers Wellington. And that friendly fire incident? There might have been a mistake there, and Mona helps solve that mystery using gossip and hearsay heard at the bar.Outside of his overuse of the word, presently, Shute is an enjoyable writer and the banter between the couple is both amusing and at at times dated. (Though some of their dialogue must have been possibly scandalous for 1940...) Of course the class issues, so omnipresent in England at the time, also sound incredibly dated.Shute writes well about the boredom of Coastal Command and Bomber Command ops, but the most shocking part of the story revolves around Mona's father's view of Jerry after he kept her out too late one night. He opines "It made a difference, certainly, that the young man had build a (model) galleon. If it had been anyone else, he have been really angry." Wow, for the first time in recorded dating history, a father of a woman thinks that her suitor being a modeler is a good thing...
Typical of Shute's work, the story revolves around aviators and their cohorts during WW2. Rich in detail concerning military aircraft and military life in general, it celebrates the character of fairly ordinary people facing extraordinary challenges. The rigid class structure of early 20th century Britain, while slowly being eroded still pervades society -- for example the idea that a young officer's military career would be compromised by a marriage below his class is being challenged but is still very much an issue.Nowhere near as compelling as Shute's best work, but still a pleasant read.
What do You think about Landfall (2001)?
This is a great book taking place in WWII England. The characters and story are believable and gripping. Jerry Chambers, a pilot in the Air Force sights a submarine while flying over the English channel. He had been warned to look out for an English submarine, the Caranx, in a nearby place, but could see no markings on the sub which identified it as English. He shoots it down. Later, he is accused by the Navy of sinking the Caranx. He is sent to another base, having to leave behind his girl friend Mona (a bar tender). Later he volunteers for a dangerous mission testing a new weapon and goes back to Portsmouth. Mona hears occasional gossip in the bar and sees a newspaper article about another sub being seen sinking on the same day the Caranx disappeared. She is sure that Jerry must have sunk the submarine which torpedoed the Caranx. She goes to Admiralty House and tells them her story. Meanwhile Jerry's plane explodes with the new device.
—Scilla
