Pastoral
by Nevil Shute
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She was from the hills of Yorkshire, country born and bred. He was a city boy. By the stream where they fished, they were two young people falling in love. Overhead, the bombers roared, threatening to blow their idyllic world, so young, so fresh, to smithereens.Tags
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chrisharpe The Cruel Sea, Montsarrat's classic WWII naval novel, examines similar themes to Pastoral, giving authentic insight into the daily experience of war at sea.
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Member Reviews
This book comes with a soundtrack. Listen to Sinatra while you read this review, and you will have the atmosphere for the beginning of the story.
Moonlight Becomes You
This is a war story and it is a love story, but it isn’t just like any war or love story you have read before. It is written by a man who obviously saw the war and probably saw a lot of young men and women struggle with the massive responsibility they shouldered and the precarious nature of falling in love during such a pervasive conflict.
Gervase Robertson is a section officer with the W.A.A.F; a young lady who takes her job very seriously and feels compelled not to let anything get in the way of her duties. Peter Marshall is a twenty-four year old bomber pilot who has show more survived in excess of fifty sorties into German territory, who falls for Gervase, as the saying goes, like a ton of bricks.
I could not stop thinking about how young these two were, how much authority and risk of life lay in their hands, how well they handled it, and how different it was to twenty-one or twenty-four in this world of bombs and death than in the days of relative peace we have known. I can scarcely imagine a single twenty year old who could bear this burden now, although I am sure there have been many such during the wars in the Middle East and I know for sure there were in Vietnam. I’m not sure why, but World War II always seems like a more intimate and omnipresent war, especially when told from the British point of view.
This is also a bit of a fishing story, the way [b:A River Runs Through It|38300|A River Runs Through It|Norman Maclean|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388204089l/38300._SY75_.jpg|49325401] is a fishing story. I wonder what it is about standing on a bank or in a river casting for fish that conjures a scene of peace and joy and oneness with nature. Shute’s writing made me wish I could go once more and sit on the bank and have the fish I caught fried up over an open fire, as we were known to do when I was young.
I love Nevil Shute. I love the way he simply tells his story without fanfare and the way his characters seem to be people you know and can believe in. It occurs to me that one of the things I love about his books is the decency of his characters; a quality that is entrenched in them and their world.
Couldn’t close without offering the second installment in the sound track. I played this while I read the final chapter. It was significant.
A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square show less
Moonlight Becomes You
This is a war story and it is a love story, but it isn’t just like any war or love story you have read before. It is written by a man who obviously saw the war and probably saw a lot of young men and women struggle with the massive responsibility they shouldered and the precarious nature of falling in love during such a pervasive conflict.
Gervase Robertson is a section officer with the W.A.A.F; a young lady who takes her job very seriously and feels compelled not to let anything get in the way of her duties. Peter Marshall is a twenty-four year old bomber pilot who has show more survived in excess of fifty sorties into German territory, who falls for Gervase, as the saying goes, like a ton of bricks.
I could not stop thinking about how young these two were, how much authority and risk of life lay in their hands, how well they handled it, and how different it was to twenty-one or twenty-four in this world of bombs and death than in the days of relative peace we have known. I can scarcely imagine a single twenty year old who could bear this burden now, although I am sure there have been many such during the wars in the Middle East and I know for sure there were in Vietnam. I’m not sure why, but World War II always seems like a more intimate and omnipresent war, especially when told from the British point of view.
This is also a bit of a fishing story, the way [b:A River Runs Through It|38300|A River Runs Through It|Norman Maclean|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388204089l/38300._SY75_.jpg|49325401] is a fishing story. I wonder what it is about standing on a bank or in a river casting for fish that conjures a scene of peace and joy and oneness with nature. Shute’s writing made me wish I could go once more and sit on the bank and have the fish I caught fried up over an open fire, as we were known to do when I was young.
I love Nevil Shute. I love the way he simply tells his story without fanfare and the way his characters seem to be people you know and can believe in. It occurs to me that one of the things I love about his books is the decency of his characters; a quality that is entrenched in them and their world.
Couldn’t close without offering the second installment in the sound track. I played this while I read the final chapter. It was significant.
A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square show less
I suppose in a way this was a bit silly, but I rather liked it. It was a bit calmer then most of the other stuff I'd been reading. We have a WWII bomber pilot, Peter Marshall. His bomber mates get him interested in fishing. One day, he catches a "big one", a pike. He wants to show it off, but no one is much interested in seeing the amazing fish, except for a young WAAF, Section Officer Gervase Laura Robertson. She's in the signaling corps. She likes the fish, and gets Peter to show her where he caught it. She's a country girl from Yorkshire and likes out doorsy kinds of things. Naturally, she and Peter begin to fall in love, especially after he takes her out one day to see a badger hole...or something.
Well, there are problems, of show more course, the airmen and WAAFs aren't supposed to consort on base. Then too, Gervase is not sure she could contemplate marriage because she has a job to do helping to defeat the Germans. Peter flies some bombing runs and has some issues with one. And so forth.
As they would have said back in those days, "it's rather a lovely book". It is also a bit silly. The romantic parts are so muted as to be easily missed. Perhaps it's a bit like the Amish romances that appear to be all the rage these days. So we get something like,
Yup, that's what passes for a "sex scene" in this book. 😉 I didn't mind in the least. show less
Well, there are problems, of show more course, the airmen and WAAFs aren't supposed to consort on base. Then too, Gervase is not sure she could contemplate marriage because she has a job to do helping to defeat the Germans. Peter flies some bombing runs and has some issues with one. And so forth.
As they would have said back in those days, "it's rather a lovely book". It is also a bit silly. The romantic parts are so muted as to be easily missed. Perhaps it's a bit like the Amish romances that appear to be all the rage these days. So we get something like,
They turned aside presently behind a spinney and exchanged a token of mutual goodwill; presently they came out again a little dishevelled and sat upon a style and smoked a cigarette together before turning back to camp.
Yup, that's what passes for a "sex scene" in this book. 😉 I didn't mind in the least. show less
I liked it, although I was a bit disappointed.
Nevil Shute's stories aren't like everybody else's stories. He spends a lot of time setting the story and characters up with a lot of detail that modern readers might find tedious and a little boring. If there is one thing he does not do it is to jump right into the action. He lets you really get to know the people in his books. Pastoral is very much this way, with this story about a British Wellington Bomber pilot and his everyday pastoral life around the air base, eventually finding himself falling much too quickly in love with a WAAF and how that plays out. He has discovered a love of fishing so you get a LOT of that, but also the interactions and relationships with his own air crew and show more others. A lot of day by day this is how life goes stuff and then there are the dramatic moments (2 big ones). Love in the time of war. A bittersweet romance pretty much drives the story. I think a book like this would appeal to someone who has enjoyed "Foyle's War" on television.
The disappointment for me here was how the pilot more or less shoved a relationship onto the WAAF signals officer. He was obsessed and guilt tripped the woman into restarting a relationship that she had tried to cool off. Not quite a "marry me or else" but pretty close. My sympathies here clearly lay with the woman and my feelings about the pilot did almost a complete reversal into the dislike category.
Oh, there's a nice sweet touch at the very last couple of paragraphs of the book that made me smile. I suppose this is a little spoilery, but someone, who we can surmise is the author, steps into the story for the last scene. show less
Nevil Shute's stories aren't like everybody else's stories. He spends a lot of time setting the story and characters up with a lot of detail that modern readers might find tedious and a little boring. If there is one thing he does not do it is to jump right into the action. He lets you really get to know the people in his books. Pastoral is very much this way, with this story about a British Wellington Bomber pilot and his everyday pastoral life around the air base, eventually finding himself falling much too quickly in love with a WAAF and how that plays out. He has discovered a love of fishing so you get a LOT of that, but also the interactions and relationships with his own air crew and show more others. A lot of day by day this is how life goes stuff and then there are the dramatic moments (2 big ones). Love in the time of war. A bittersweet romance pretty much drives the story. I think a book like this would appeal to someone who has enjoyed "Foyle's War" on television.
The disappointment for me here was how the pilot more or less shoved a relationship onto the WAAF signals officer. He was obsessed and guilt tripped the woman into restarting a relationship that she had tried to cool off. Not quite a "marry me or else" but pretty close. My sympathies here clearly lay with the woman and my feelings about the pilot did almost a complete reversal into the dislike category.
Oh, there's a nice sweet touch at the very last couple of paragraphs of the book that made me smile. I suppose this is a little spoilery, but someone, who we can surmise is the author, steps into the story for the last scene. show less
Pastoral is a wartime romance between a RAF bomber pilot and a WAAF signal corps officer who have to battle personal priorities and the dangers of war if they are to find happiness. But it's not really a "romance novel", for example the first quarter of the book has a lot more to say about various characters' love of fishing than anything else. Instead, it's probably best thought of as a war novel with romantic elements. We learn a lot about nighttime bombing raids and the lives of pilots, both the things that bring them success and those that can bring their lives to an end. But the heart of the novel is the two lovers and their shared desire to do their utmost for their country in this time of crisis.
Highly recommended for anyone who show more likes World War II fiction written during World War II, interesting romances, or novels about pilots. show less
Highly recommended for anyone who show more likes World War II fiction written during World War II, interesting romances, or novels about pilots. show less
A pleasant war drama about the romance between an RAF bomber pilot and a WAAF signal officer. The dynamic of the relationship can seem a bit jarring to modern readers, but it is a fine portrait of life on a bomber station during testing times. The combat scenes over Germany are also quite well done. All told, its fairly predictable progression doesn't encourage the book to transcend itself, but it is a well-put-together light read with characters you will warm to for a day or two.
This might be my favourite so far of my Nevil Shute collection. It is a wonderful old-fashioned courtship and love story between a R A F pilot and a W A A F during World War II in Britain.. The tension of the bombing raids contrasts with the fishing in the lakes and rivers of pastoral England, hence the title The story is well-paced building to a taut climax. A nice finishing touch is the author's appearance on the final page and the reader realises the story is based on actual people and events.
If you know me, you know I'm rather a fan of Nevil Shute's books. I enjoyed this one as well, although there are several of his others I prefer.
Pastoral is a rather straightforward and charming love story set against the backdrop of World War II. It doesn't hit you the way that something like Requiem for a Wren — another of his tales with the same setting — does, which may be good or bad, depending upon whether you want a pleasant story or something that delivers a bit of a visceral blow.
Pastoral is a rather straightforward and charming love story set against the backdrop of World War II. It doesn't hit you the way that something like Requiem for a Wren — another of his tales with the same setting — does, which may be good or bad, depending upon whether you want a pleasant story or something that delivers a bit of a visceral blow.
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Author Information
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Nevil Shute Norway was born in Ealing, London, England, on January, 17 1899. At the age of 11, Norway played truant from his first preparatory school in Hammersmith. After he was discovered, he was sent to the Dragon School, Oxford, and from there to Shrewsbury. He was on holiday in Dublin at the time of the Easter rising of 1916 and acted as an show more ambulance driver, winning a commendation for gallant conduct. He then entered the Royal Military Academy, intending to be commissioned into the Royal Flying Corps, but a bad stammer led to his being failed at his final medical examination and returned to civil life. The last few months of the war were spent on home service as a private in the Suffolk Regiment. In 1919, Norway went to Balliol College, Oxford, where he took a third class honors course in engineering science in 1922. During the vacations he worked, unpaid, as an aeronautical engineer, for the Aircraft Manufacturing Company at Hendon, and then for Geoffrey de Havilland's own firm, which he joined as an employee upon finishing at Oxford. He learned to fly and gained experience as a test observer. During the evenings he diligently wrote novels and short stories unperturbed by rejection slips from publishers. In 1924 Norway took the post of Chief Calculator to the Airship Guarantee Company, to work on the construction of the R100. In 1929 he became Deputy Chief Engineer under Barnes Wallis, and in the following year he flew to and from Canada in the R100. After the end of the airship project, jobs were hard to come by due to the depression so Shute started an aircraft manufacturing company, Airspeed Limited. This company was ultimately successful and built a large number of aircraft during the war. Shute remained joint managing director until 1938. When the business became too routine, he decided to get out of the rut and live by writing. The de Havillands, the first aviation job Shute had ever had, wound up buying Airspeed Ltd. He had by then enjoyed some success as a novelist and had sold the film rights of Lonely Road and Ruined City. At the outbreak of war in 1939, Norway joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as a Sub-Lieutenant in the Miscellaneous Weapons Department. Rising to Lieutenant Commander, he found experimenting with secret weapons a job after his own heart. But he found that his growing celebrity as a writer caused him to be in the Normandy landings on 6th June 1944, for the Ministry of Information, and to be sent to Burma as a correspondent in 1945. He entered Rangoon with the 15th Corps from Arakan. Soon after demobilisation in 1945 he emigrated to Australia and made his home in Langwarrin, Victoria. His output of novels, which began with Marazan (1926) continued to the end. Shute was one of the leading aeronautical engineers in Britain during the 30's and a fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. When he began writing in the 20's, he feared that a reputation as a writer of fiction might harm his engineering career. For this reason he published under his two Christian names, Nevil Shute and engineered under his "real" name, Nevil S. Norway. Nevil Shute Norway died in Melbourne on January, 12 1960. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Das Paar in der Sonne
- Original title
- Pastoral
- Original publication date
- 1944
- People/Characters
- Peter Marshall; Gervase Robertson
- Important places
- Oxfordshire, England, UK
- Epigraph
- Pastoral. Noun. A poem which describes the scenery and life of the country: (music) a simple melody - Chamber's Twentieth Century Dictionary (epigraph from the beginning of the book)
- First words
- Peter Marshall stirred in the broad light of day, and woke up slowly.
- Quotations
- 'Wizard' ... a term used used by both Peter and Gervase ... and also by my Uncle Jack, also a World War 2 pilot, in a war-time letter home to his family.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Baxter turned from the window. 'The very stuff of England,' he said quietly. I smiled, 'Those two?' He nodded. I was intrigued. 'Is there anything particular about them?' I enquired. 'Nothing particular,' he said. 'Just an average good pilot, marrying one of of the girls from his station. He did quite well the other night. I'm putting him in for a D.F.C.' I glanced back at the couple by the truck. 'I'd like to hear about that.' I said. 'Remind me, and I'll tell you about that chap some time,' he said. ...
- Original language
- English
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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