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Alan guesses that this troubled woman must have left personal papers hidden somewhere in case her suicide attempt was not successful. He searches the house and finds a small suitcase of letters, diaries, and her passport. He is appalled to learn that he knew her: she was, in fact, Janet
Prentice, a
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Reading through Janet's diaries, Alan learns that she came to
Australia to find Bill's family, and that she still feels she must atone for the deaths of the seven men. He realizes that, after Bill's death, he and Janet, though never meeting, came to love each other, and ought to be the master and
127:. In quick succession she lost Bill, then her father, and then her beloved dog. Her mother also died, shortly after the war. In addition, she believes herself responsible for the deaths of seven men, possibly allies, who were escaping in a German aeroplane which she may have shot down.
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mistress of the family property; but now, the ghosts of Bill and Janet make it impossible for him to stay. But then he learns, as if from the ghosts, that he should "do the job for them"; and there is a woman in
England, Viola, the other former Wren, who he should marry.
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former Wren and his late brother Bill's sweetheart. Together with another Wren, Viola Dawson, Alan has spent years searching for Janet after Bill's death.
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His arrival home is marred by the apparent suicide, a few hours earlier, of a young
Englishwoman named Jessie Proctor, who was his parents' housekeeper.
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before being injured in action, losing both feet when his plane crashed. He has recently qualified as a
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166:'Proctor' and 'Prentice' are also names of British aircraft – the
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62:The late 1940s story concerns two English women,
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148:Nevil Shute Foundation: Requiem for a Wren
392:Slide Rule: Autobiography of an Engineer
174:. Nevil Shute owned and flew a Proctor.
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189:The Breaking Wave (Requiem for a Wren)
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42:. It was first published in 1955 by
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483:Novels set in Victoria (state)
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288:What Happened to the Corbetts
123:, until tragic events around
119:Janet had a "lovely war" in
25:First edition, cover artist
473:Heinemann (publisher) books
16:Novel by Nevil Shute (1955)
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46:. It was published in the
432:Trustee from the Toolroom
304:Landfall: A Channel Story
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424:The Rainbow and the Rose
81:. Alan has studied as a
488:Women in the Royal Navy
153:28 January 2015 at the
478:1955 Australian novels
408:Beyond the Black Stump
157:, accessed 3 Jan 2015.
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468:Novels by Nevil Shute
44:William Heinemann Ltd
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135:Notes and references
463:1955 British novels
400:Requiem for a Wren
35:Requiem For A Wren
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360:A Town Like Alice
344:The Chequer Board
172:Percival Prentice
103:called to the bar
87:Oxford University
52:The Breaking Wave
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336:Vinland the Good
296:An Old Captivity
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168:Percival Proctor
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121:Southern England
89:and fought as a
50:under the title
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368:Round the Bend
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38:is a novel by
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95:World War II
68:Royal Marine
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58:Plot summary
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320:Most Secret
280:Ruined City
272:Lonely Road
232:Nevil Shute
77:(ranch) in
40:Nevil Shute
457:Categories
384:In the Wet
352:No Highway
312:Pied Piper
194:Faded Page
230:Books by
99:barrister
93:pilot in
79:Australia
328:Pastoral
249:Pilotage
196:(Canada)
170:and the
151:Archived
27:Val Biro
256:Marazan
107:England
71:frogman
443:(2002)
435:(1960)
427:(1958)
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267:(1928)
259:(1926)
251:(1923)
125:D-Day
105:) in
64:Wrens
247:and
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192:at
91:RAF
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