Requiem for a Wren

Someone dubbed Nevil Shute "the Prince of Storytellers" and it's not just hype. He wrote about 20 novels between 1930 and 1960, all of which are good and a few of which are great ( Trustee From The Toolroom by Nevil Shute , A Town Like Alice (Vintage International)  and  On the Beach ). Many of Shute's books, like "Requiem for a Wren," revolve around individuals caught up in the trauma of World War II or the post-war world. Many take place in the wide open spaces of his beloved Australia. They blend romance, adventure, sacrifice and deep sentiment, a quality I miss in our era of irony and detachment. Shute creates compelling characters -- his women are as well-drawn as his men -- who endure a lot and whose journey to hard-won wisdom is always riveting."Requiem" is no exception. As its title suggests, it is a sad story told with compassion and eloquence. A disabled veteran, Alan Duncan, returns to his family home in Australia embittered by the war. Alan's brother has been killed in the war and he tries to find out more about his brother's fiancée, who was a member of the Women's Royal Navy Service, popularly known as Wrens. "Requiem" focuses on the war and post-war experiences of this woman, Janet Prentice, as well as Alan's difficult reintegration into civilian life. Both Alan's and Janet's stories made me think about the unknown heroism and quiet dignity of people's lives. They made me aware, once again, of the enormous sacrifices of the "Greatest Generation," which helped rid the world of fascism. "Requiem" is a good, thought-provoking reading experience.

Wow, what a different book. This was recommended to me after I was raving about "A Town Like Alice", and it didn't disappoint despite being a very different type of storyline.Neville Shute is a past-master at stories set during WWII. His ability to place ordinary people into the exact setting, and make the reader feel that it could just as easily have been them, is amazing.This is not a story with a happy ending, but the ending is satisfying nonetheless. It is more in the style of the unfolding solving of a deep mystery. The person who at the start, you believe to be almost incidental becomes the centre of the story, and by the end you can't help loving her, and regretting that she didn't get her happy ending.I finished this book, by coincidence, the day before the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings. This book will teach you so much history about D-Day and the people involved.I won't forget this book any time soon, and it has expanded my viewpoint. Well deserving of 5 stars.

An old book about the second world war. The character of the Wren is very much of her time. They way in which she deals with the war and the deaths in the war is very much of that generation. A very touching book.

I enjoyed this story very much particularly as part of the tale takes place in a part of Australia that I am familiar with. I could havedone with less of the technical stuff about the different types of ships and guns etc.but I consider it up there with his best.

As a longtime fan, this is one of my favourites. I have read this one many times over the past 55yrs or so and always enjoy!

Loved the book,finished it in 1 day.I like stories from that time period. The writing flows and keeps your interest and was hard to put down.Will be part of my book collection

I've read this book at least three times, and I'm sure i"ll read it again. Nevil Shute is a superb story teller and Requiem for a Wren is one of my favorites. It's a lovely story, very true to the period of WWII.

This is a good printing of this very moving book. The cover picture is inadequate -- Pan Books did a far better one in 1971. It might be useful (for American readers) to point out that this book was published in the US as "The Breaking Wave".

It is a very good novel -not a masterpiece as A town like Alice but it is very readable and very moving. The only problem is-it is very old fashioned for gouger readers taste. The ideology of Nevil Shute was very conservative-pro war, pro empire. there is . also, a belief in a et of values which are very strict and haunt the heroine to the point that she commits suicide . This novel is like a very beautiful antique object with a lot of the patina of time passed engraved on it.

A book, with great narrative and a plot which is truly international.Once again the author drags his reader in to a WW2 scenario in the build up to D Day and all that entailed on the South coast of England. Then out to the Antipodean outback via the USA.Requiem for a Wren is a love story which draws one into a quest for a happy ending for its central character.Read it to find out if the quest is fulfilled.A wonderful book, accurate in its detail and a wonderfully rewarding read.

This is a very good and well written but quite dark novel. I am glad that I bought and read it. I cannot however say that I enjoyed it, because this is a rather grim opus - a little bit as if "A town like Alice" went to the dark side... Below, more of my impressions, with some LIMITED SPOILERS.Australia, somewhere around 1955. Alan Duncan, an Australian in his early 40s is a lawyer by education and also a decorated veteran of WWII - he fought as pilot in RAF and lost both his feet when his plane was downed during the famous battle which took place on 1 January 1945 (Operation "Bodenplatte"). After studying in England and travelling through the world he is now returning home to his wealthy parents' prosperous sheep station (ranch) Coombargana in Australia. However, as soon as he arrives, he learns that an unexpected tragedy happened - his parents housekeeper, an English young woman named Jessie Proctor, was discovered dead the same morning. It seems that she killed herself but nobody can understand why and gradually it becomes obvious that nobody really knew anything about Jessie Proctor's past... That takes care of like first five pages - and then the book really begins.When writing this book Neville Shute was already a successful and quite well known writer - if I am not mistaken it was his 21st published novel. This is definitely the work by a fully matured writer, experienced, confident and not afraid of hurting reader's feelings.After finishing it, I really had the impression that I just read a dark twin of "A town like Alice" (which was published five years earlier) as there are many similarities. I really cannot go more into details about those similarities, because I would then reveal too much and this book is essentially a long travel in the search of truth - which is not fully revealed before the last chapter. You must therefore make this voyage of discovery yourself...As suggested by the title of my review, which is also a quote from the book, one of the main themes of this novel is how war keeps killing people long after it ended. Another one, even more shocking, is how much some people miss the war, once it is ended - in fact large fragments of this book could have for title this archi-famous piece of German black humour from years 1944-45 "Let's enjoy the war, the peace will be terrible"... But I will not say anything more here - all this you will have to discover too...One precision here, for those who are not very familiar with history - a wren is of course a bird, but during WWII the nickname of "wrens" was given to members of Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS). WRNS soldiers didn't go to combat, but performed a lot of difficult, dangerous and highly important tasks for Royal Navy, like handling munitions and repairing guns (Ordnance Wrens). Quite unavoidably their barracks were generally known as "wrenneries"...))) At one moment you will also see appearing in the text the "priests" - this was the British nickname of 105 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M7, the main self-propelled gun of allied artillery during WWII.Being a military history maniac I must stress that there is a couple of impossibilities in the text. There never were German female soldiers fighting on the front during WWII and there never were any German infiltrators in civilian clothes, male or female, used during the battle of Normandy. Also at one moment, just before suffering his crippling wounds during operation "Bodenplatte" (1 January 1945), the narrator tells us that German fighters Focke-Wulf Ta-152 were better than anything that allies could put in the air - not only that statement is highly disputable, but especially no such plane was ever used in combat or even seen by the allies before 14 April 1945... That being said, even those mistakes don't affect in any way my five star rating and I stop here my military history maniac ravings...Bottom line, I am glad that I bought and read this book, even if it is ultimately a rather sad thing. I will keep it preciously on the shelf for my children, once they are old enough. I also think that it could make a really great film in the hands of a good director. A recommended reading.

I first read Nevil Shute as a teenager but this was one book I had missed. It’s an interesting WW2 tale written in the post war style of English that modern readers may find a little dull. The story revolves around a Royal Navy WREN who falls in love with an Australian during the war. He is killed in France on active duty and there follows a series of traumatic events for the young WREN that results in her apparent disappearance as perceived by her boyfriend’s brother who is desperate to find her.This is a rambling story but it draws you in with twists and turns leaving you hoping that you’ll find a happy ending even though the final outcome is already known in the first few pages.

I read this book year’s ago and enjoyed it but the book had the ending missing. Bought this to finally finish reading it. It was really worth the effort don’t know why I didn’t do it earlier. The story is fantastic. Nevil Shute us and amazing writer. The came really quickly and in perfect condition. Fabulous service and a great book.