Round the Bend (novel) Round the Bend (novel) Round the Bend is a 1951 novel by Nevil Shute. It tells the story of Constantine "Connie" Shaklin, an aircraft engineer who founds a new religion transcending existing religions based on the merit of good work. It deals with racism, including the White Australia policy, and also with the importance of private enterprise. It was one of the first novels Shute wrote after emigrating from Britain to Australia in 1950. The novel, written in the first person, adopts the voice and eyes of Tom Cutter, an aircraft pilot, engineer, and entrepreneur. The novel starts with Cutter's
Alice Thompson Alice Thompson Alice Thompson (born in Edinburgh) is a Scottish novelist. Thompson was educated at St George's School, Edinburgh, then read English at Oxford University and wrote her Ph.D. thesis on Henry James. In the 1980s she was the keyboard player with rock band The Woodentops. She has a son, and lives in Edinburgh. Her novel "Justine" was the joint winner of the 1996 James Tait Black Memorial Prize. She also won a Creative Scotland Award in 2000, and was a Writer in Residence in Shetland. "Their romance had been like a fairytale. If only she could work out which