AN OLD CAPTIVITY: A Review

More than just an ordinary plane trip, first published in 1940, this novel is still a stand-out! Don Ross is hired to fly an ageing Oxford professor, Lockwood, to Greenland to prove an archeological theory - that around 1000 AD the Celts had explored and settled Greenland, leaving ruins. The first half of the book is pure Shute, painstakingly following Ross as he purchases an aeroplane and supplies for the trip. He lectures the professor on the rigors of the undertaking and tries to shed light on the harsh reality awaiting. Shute, an engineer, always has a great way of explaining technical details that are both interesting and simple for the layman to understand. We follow Ross as he quietly goes about the sheer overwhelming amount of preparation with determination and the classic British "stiff upper lip."
Accompanying Don and Lockwood is the professor's frumpish daughter, Alix, who is in fear for her father's health and mistrust's Don, thinking him out to bilk her father and rich uncle, who is funding the expedition. As they make the journey - England to Scotland, Scotland to Iceland, etc... - enduring simple hardships and delays, professor and daughter realize their initial idea of this being merely a simple journey was mistaken; their lives and safety are completely in Don's hands, who works himself eighteen hours a day ... becoming frail and weak.
Then, as the expedition reaches its destination, Don falls into a semi-coma of fatigue - and this is where Shute's not-so-modern sensibility shines through. Over halfway through the book, the simple adventure tale of survival becomes an almost metaphysical exploration of love, reincarnation and time travel, done with such a slight and clever hand that the reader barely is aware of what has happened.
Such is the genius of Nevil Shute. He has long been one of my favorite writers. I have also long trumpeted the fact that he is one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. Even though in style he is very old-fashioned, he was always on the cutting edge of ideas. Many of his novels explore scientific theory that later was proved correct. A decade after this novel, archeologists began to excavate ruins in Greenland proving settlements more than a 1000 years old.

A slyly brilliant book. Part adventure, part romance, part mystical .... all Shute.


BIBLIO SAYS: Highly recommended!
Suggested other reading: In The Wet by Nevil Shute. Another metaphysical adventure story set in Australia's outback.