Genevieve is a converted French fishing boat, manned by British officers and a small crew of free French ex-fishermen, armed only with a flame-thrower and few arms. They carry out their daring attack on the German boats off the Brittany coast. Every man involved in the raid is an unlikely hero in his own way.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
A magnificent thrill; it is also a tale of character, for every member of the little ship's company is worth meeting. A book that should not be missed Daily Telegraph Mr Shute's style is ideal for this kind of book. He revels in incident and he draws his people with loving care. Here, he's reminiscent of H. E. Bates at his best; that same ability to make you passionately interested in anything he's interested in, and to make the most outlandish happening seem credible his characters are so real No other writer has brought to fiction of this type quite the same lively sympathy and warmth of imagination or left so engaging an impression of truthfulness...Mr Shute always has good things to offer...the power to convey the springs of heroic conduct in the lightest and least assuming of tones Times Literary Supplement Based around a group aboard a converted trawler in 1942, this is a grand tale of sacrifice and courage and superbly structured. --Express
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
About the Author
Nevil Shute Norway was born in London and worked as an aeronautical engineer at Vickers before setting up his own airship company. Worried that his reputation as a fiction writer would damage his engineering career, he wrote without using his surname. He served in both world wars and was a commander in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in World War II, working on secret projects. After the war he became a full time author completing a fictionalised account of his war time experience in 'Most Secret'. Moving to Australia in 1949 he based seven of his novels against that background including his most successful title On The Beach. This was subsequently a hugely successful film starring Gregory Peck, Antony Perkins and Ava Gardner and became arguably the major after the bomb movie of all time. Shute became one of the top selling authors of the 50s and 60s with wide appeal to a broad international market attracted by strong story lines which were always meticulously researched..
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More About the Author
Nevil Shute Norway was born in 1899 in Ealing, London. He studied Engineering Science at Balliol College, Oxford. Following his childhood passion, he entered the fledgling aircraft industry as an aeronautical engineer working to develop airships and, later, airplanes. In his spare time he began writing and he published his first novel, Marazan, in 1926, using the name Nevil Shute to protect his engineering career. In 1931 he married Frances Mary Heaton and they had two daughters. During the Second World War he joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve where he worked on developing secret weapons. After the war he continued to write and settled in Australia where he lived until his death in 1960. His most celebrated novels include Pied Piper (1942), A Town Like Alice (1950), and On the Beach (1957).
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A rollicking good tale of warfare and derring-do,
By
This review is from: Most Secret (Hardcover)
I've read it many, many times. The characters are very believable (you will feel as though you have met people like them), and the suspense buildup is managed brilliantly. The ending, though poignant, is superb.About as good a war tale as you can get -- the plot is fast-paced, always developing. No wasted words. This book proves that good war tales can be told without lasping into profanity and gore -- neither of which are used by Shute. As with other Shute books, it is written from the viewpoint of a detached observer to the main tale -- a technique he has used rather well in other books. Read _Most Secret_ once and I guarantee you will never look upon fishing boats or Worcester Sauce in quite the same way.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wartime tale but with human interest,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Most Secret (Hardcover)
This is a war time novel that I had not read before. I have been reading Neville Shute's novels for many years but had missed this one. It is excellent. The story is told in the same way he did "A Town Like Alice and "No Highway." He is the outsider looking at the characters from his passive role as observer. In the novel, the narrator is an older naval officer who becomes involved in a Special Operations action in Brittany. The other characters are young men and women and their lives and relationships are a large part of the story. This is extremely well done. One of them, a young industrial chemist, is similar to the character in "No Highway." He is totally alone and shrinks from contact with girls as he is certain he will mess it up. Another character grows up with the young woman who will become his wife. One of the most interesting, Charles Simon, is born British but lives almost his entire life in France except for his schooling. He, on an impulse, volunteers to be a British officer when a commando raid happens to find him at a seaside cafe during a raid. His character and the circumstances remind me of the Helen MacInnes novel Assignment in Brittany. The Bretons are fiercely independent and resisted the Germans more than most in 1940 France. They are still quite proud of their heritage, as I learned two summers ago when I inadvertently referred to a small hotel in Brittany as being Norman. I was firmly corrected. The adventure is good, although a bit bloodthirsty for some so many years after the war. The best part is the character development, which has always been the best feature of Neville Shute's novels.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Something for every reader,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Most Secret (Paperback)
Nevil Shute is one of my favorite writers. Although he's best known for two fine novels -- A Town Like Alice and On the Beach -- he produced a number of other gems during his prolific career. Most Secret is one of them.War plays a role, large or small, in many of Shute's novels. Most Secret was first published in 1945; the action begins in 1941. Bombs are raining down on London and England is fully engaged in the war. Three of the four main characters are in the Royal Navy. They devise and carry out an ingenious plan to attack a German ship off the coast of France. But while Most Secret can be accurately categorized as a war story, it's much more than that. Shute is one of the few writers who successfully blended character-oriented fiction with a plot-driven story. Ultimately, he wrote about people; not just their actions, but the impact those actions had on their lives. War has tragic consequences; death and sorrow are usually present in Shute's novels. It's difficult to read them with dry eyes. That's certainly true of Most Secret. I don't need to like the characters in order to enjoy a novel, but that's never an issue with Nevil Shute. He nearly always wrote about decent, likable people who cope with catastrophe with their dignity intact. Most Secret introduces the reader to Oliver Boden, the carefree son of a wool-spinner, who marries his childhood sweetheart shortly before joining the Navy, the natural outgrowth of his love of sailing. Boden teams with Michael Rhodes, a shy, awkward young chemist whose best friend before joining the Navy and falling in love with a Leading Wren is a misbehaving dog. The Labrador makes only a brief appearance, albeit a pivotal one in Rhodes' character development. The third actor in the plot against the Germans is Charles Simon, a young British citizen whose mother was French and who is working as an engineer for a French concrete manufacturer when the war starts. As a civilian, Simon provides vital intelligence to the British about the German occupation of a French harbor before he's rewarded with a commission to the Royal Engineers. A former rum-runner named John Colvin signs onto the mission as navigator. Their joint venture is narrated by Commander Martin, who oversees the mission but generally stays in the background. Most Secret has something for every reader: a wartime adventure that eventually develops the pace and tension of a thriller; a story of blossoming love and another of a love left behind; a series of character studies; a spy story; a survival adventure; an exploration of differing philosophies of life and war; an inspirational saga of courage and self-sacrifice. It has tenderness and tragedy and unforgettable characters. Most of all, it is a powerful, moving, heart-felt tale told in the quiet, unassuming prose that marked Shute's style. Most Secret is just as compelling now as it was when Shute wrote it. I would give it 4 1/2 stars if Amazon offered that option, only because I think another of Shute's lesser known novels, The Breaking Wave, is even better.
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