Beyond the Black Stump

"Beyond the Black Stump" by Shute, Nevil, published by Vintage. The expression “beyond the black stump” refers to the deepest, darkest wilds of the Australian outback, the setting for Nevil Shute’s novel of a romance tested by cultural difference. Stanton Laird is an American geologist sent to hunt oil in a remote part of Western Australia. There he befriends the highly unconventional Regan family, the rough-and-tumble owners of a million-acre sheep station, and falls in love with their daughter Mollie. However, when Mollie goes to join him in America, the young couple must face the realization that they are products of radically different worlds. Review“The novel fascinates in its record of the hazards and joys shared by a rich and rewarding company of personalities.” —The Scotsman “[Shute’s] characters...are carved out with fine bold strokes, and the red dust of his million-acre ranch fairly gets in your throat.” —Daily Telegraph “A novelist of intelligent and engaging quality, deservedly popular…. Nevil Shute was, in brief, the sort of novelist who genuinely touches the imagination and feeling.” —The Times (London) About the AuthorNevil Shute Norway was born on 17 January 1899 in Ealing, London.After attending the Dragon School and Shrewsbury School, he studied Engineering Science at Balliol College, Oxford. He worked as an aeronautical engineer and published his first novel, Marazan, in 1926. In 1931 he married Frances Mary Heaton and they went on to have 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 on 12 January 1960. His most celebrated novels include Pied Piper (1942), No Highway (1948), A Town Like Alice (1950) and On the Beach (1957). Book details: published 1956. Order now on BookShops.in with fast, reliable delivery across India.