 First edition (UK) | |
| Author | Alistair MacLean |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | World War IINovel |
| Publisher | Collins (UK) Doubleday (US) |
Publication date | 1958 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover &Paperback) |
| Pages | 254 pgs |
| Preceded by | The Guns of Navarone |
| Followed by | The Last Frontier |
South byJava Head is the thirdnovel written byScottish authorAlistair MacLean, and was first published in1958.[1]
MacLean's personal experiences in theRoyal Navy duringWorld War II provided part of the basis for the story.
The story is set in February 1942, in the immediate aftermath of theBattle of Singapore. As the British stronghold ofSingapore falls to the invadingImperial Japanese Army, a mixed collection of soldiers, nurses, fleeing civilians, a small boy, and at least one spy attempt to escape the burning city aboard theKerry Dancer, a battered freighter crewed by a disreputable captain and sailors. TheKerry Dancer is crippled by Japanese aircraft, and the refugees are rescued by theViroma, a tanker also fleeing Singapore; however, theViroma is also sunk by the Japanese, and the survivors take to open boats on the open sea. Led by stalwart First Officer John Nicholson, they attempt to flee to safety across theSouth China Sea, facing death by thirst and exposure, typhoons, and pursuit by the relentless Japanese. As tensions mount in the small boat, Nicholson realizes that they are equally at risk from traitors in their midst.
TheNew York Times said it was "crammed with action and realistically sketched backgrounds but there is a patchness about the escapes from tight fixes that makesSouth by Java Head a less credible chronicle of derring-do than its remarkable predecessors."[2]
In 1957 producer Daniel Angel said thatDaniel Fuchs was writing the script forSouth by Java Head from a novel by Tom Carling, with Fox to finance.[3] MacLean's publisher Ian Chapman had not felt the novel was up to the standard ofThe Guns of Navarone and was going to suggest to MacLean that he try another novel instead. However the film sale of the project led to the novel's publication.[4]
In January 1960Buddy Adler announced he had bought the film rights for Fox as a vehicle forAlec Guinness and $4 million would be spent on it.Sydney Boehm would write the script.[5] No film resulted.
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