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Trustee from the Toolroom - by Nevil Shute
I had a wonderful time with this book! My mom is in a Nevil Shute class, and they are I believe reading all of his works - which admittedly seems like a bit of overkill all at once. Or so I thought before I had experienced any of his novels. I was so pleasantly surprised to find how much I enjoyed the writing and the characterizations, and I tore through the book in a few days (though not quite fast enough to return it to my mom after borrowing it for months, where it sat on the 'to read' pile!)
In the story, we meet a classic Englishman, Keith and his kind wife Katie. They live very simply and within their extremely modest means, and are happy. Keith is an engineer (Shute was himself, and his writing is wonderfully informed by it) and writes for what appears to be a niche magazine called "The Miniature Mechanic". He has a beautiful toolroom in his basement, and is an extremely accomplished technician, able to quickly create nearly anything he can dream up, and his articles to the magazine describe novel creations of his and the methods to make them. He receives letters from all over the world in reply to his articles, and considers it his honor and his duty to reply to each one. While it is clear to him, even at this point, that he has a tremendous following, he is quite humble and content with his place in the world.
The plot comes around when his sister and former Navy brother-in-law decide to move to America, and to sail there in a beautiful boat for two. As can be expected, things do not go well, and their daughter ends up in the care of Keith and Katie for the long haul. We learn about a, shall we say, asset that can be recovered to help with the care and education of their daughter, and Keith sets out on a journey halfway around the world, with their life savings of 100 pounds in his pocket, to fulfill this quest.
What immediately won me over with this book was that, almost as soon as Keith gets the idea to go on this journey, he runs into professional people who are fans of his efforts in the magazine, and are thrilled to meet him in person and lend a hand on his journey. Throughout it all, he never gets a big head, or starts to think he's anything special. He does the work he loves, and is happy that it can be shared with other like minded folks. That reasonable premise, along with the intelligent writing which described aspects of sea travel, air travel, and mechanical engineering which are far over my head, made it a fun and engaging read.
The publication date of the first edition I read shows as 1960, which is also listed as the year Nevil Shute passed away. I was a little sad to start my experience with his writing on his last book, but in another way perhaps all he had learned through his career was poured into this text and helps to explain why I found it so truly enjoyable. About 2/3rds of the way through the book, it sort of feels like things get abridged, and we race along through some plot to the big finish. I have to wonder if that abrupt turning point represents a point in time where his health started to fail, and he wanted to complete the book as he had it in mind, rather than leave it unfinished. It's an interesting thing, to be able to tie the life of the author to mechanical aspects of their work, and I don't presume to be skilled at doing so, but was something I couldn't help but notice here.
As is obvious, I really enjoyed my journey with Keith, and recommend this text to fans of a good adventure, who may also have a technical bent and a soft spot for the little guy.
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