Trustee from the Toolroom by Nevil Shute

 

This month I choose Trustee from the Toolroom by Nevil Shute

It is my book group’s choice for our meeting on 16 June. It is a modern classic. 

The writing seems very smooth compared with many modern stories. The main character is so very well formed that we like him and we wish him well right to the very end.

Keith Stewart and his wife are very down-to-earth and though not poor they are certainly not as well off as Stewart’s sister and brother-in-law. His sister and brother-in-law are drowned as they cross the world in a small yacht and he becomes the guardian of his young niece Janice.

There are some very powerful descriptions of the sea voyage and though there are many technical details that go right over my head, I don’t feel as if the author is showing off.  These details are important to the two characters in the boat.

The same is true of the engineering detail that we are given as Keith discusses and thinks about his small scale model projects. Again I don’t understand those details but it’s clear they are important to Keith and to the men to whom he talks.

Keith goes on tricky journey to recover some items from the yacht and to make sure his relations have had a decent burial and this creates much of the tension in the story. We are kept guessing right until the last minute about whether it will all come good for the family.

Keith does get some help through the kindness of strangers, which is richly deserved, and that is a reassuring message.              

Find your copy here.   

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