Point of View

A Town Like Alice is told from the point of view of Noel Strachan, an aging senior partner in a London law firm. At the end of the novel, Strachan explains how he has devoted the last three years of declining health to going over precious correspondence with his client, the protagonist Jean Paget, and writing up her amazing story. In the early chapters, he shows her telling him the details, and each chapter ends with them coming back to the present for a brief reflection.

Strachan at times speaks in the first person, talking about his interactions with Paget, and sometimes reproduces conversations so intimate and detailed that it is difficult to imagine any letter or conversation that could have conveyed them to him. Much of the time, Strachan recedes into the background, allowing the story line - particularly in Australia - to move forward...