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    Trustee from the Toolroom
    Trustee from the Toolroom
    Trustee from the Toolroom
    Audiobook8 hours

    Trustee from the Toolroom

    Written by Nevil Shute

    Narrated by Frank Muller

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Keith Stewart, a retiring and ingenious engineer, could not have been happier in his little house in the shabby London suburb of Ealing. There he invented the mini-motor, the six-volt generator, and the tiny Congreve clock. Then a chain of events sweeps him into deep waters and leads him to his happiest discovery yet.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateNov 11, 2011
    ISBN9781461812357
    Trustee from the Toolroom

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    Reviews for Trustee from the Toolroom

    4.5/5

    29 ratings12 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      A beautiful and fun story! I wouldn’t have thought all the technical engineering and sailing detail would be so interesting, but it was. Fantastic characters. I’m recommending it to everyone I know! Read by one of the all time audiobook stars, Frank Muller.
    • 5/5
      What an interesting read exploring contrasting lifestyles and ways of working/thinking and looking at other people's lives. I loved getting to know the protagonist and the way he moves through life tackling problems CONSTRUCTIVELY is fascinating even if it feels slightly nostalgic! I loved the author's admiration for engineering and people who appreciate engineers!
    • 4/5
      To the outsider this is a boring book: a little man with little ambitions and a dull hobby has to travel around the world to fulfil a promise he made to his brother, the characters he meets to help him are like him, middle class English types with little ambition, often with the same dull hobby. He does his job, goes home, life goes on. However to the Nevil Shute fan, this is a joy of a novel that slips down like an oyster, and like an oyster never cloys. Shute's characters are of a very British niceness, pleased to help someone down on their luck. Now this attitude is only found in the colonies, it has vanished in Britain. Read this book, back when Briton almost ruled the world, but because of post war austerity travellers could only take a few pounds out with them.Oh yes and there's lots of engineering in here as well, wehat is?
    • 5/5
      Awesome book!! Cannot say enough about Nevil Shute stories! 5*****
    • 4/5
      This is one of Shute's last novels, published in 1960. Whilst it's much more positive in tone than some of the others from the fifties, it still includes a few digs at his bête noire, the post-war British government. You don't have to be a born-again libertarian to enjoy it, though: it's primarily a celebration of craftsmanship as a unifying force that breaks through social and geographical barriers. The central character, Keith Stewart, is a model engineer living a quiet life on the western fringes of London (where Shute grew up himself), who, without much money, has to make an epic journey to a remote Pacific island to retrieve his young niece's inheritance. En route, he receives assistance from fans of his articles in Miniature Mechanic magazine. He's a modest, middle-aged hero in the great tradition of Bailie Nicol Jarvie and Dickson McCunn.Being an engineer himself, Shute obviously enjoys the excuse this book gives him to indulge in the language of precision mechanics, but he doesn't go overboard. A technical reader probably wouldn't find much to quibble at, but I don't think someone without a mechanics background would be baffled for long, either. Where the book is less convincing is in the final section, where the main characters are American industrial tycoons. Here you do get the impression that Shute doesn't quite know how such people speak and act (they talk like Americans in British novels), and is using the technology of long-distance phone calls, tape recorders and helicopters to distract from this.The ending is a bit fairy-godmotherish, but that is entirely fitting for this sort of story, so there's no reason to complain about this: we need a bit of escapism in a feel-good adventure story.
    • 5/5
      Shute’s last but one of his best. Wonderful, interesting,
    • 4/5
      Despite having virtually no knowledge of either engineering or nautical terms and practices - nor to be honest, any interest in those areas - I found myself engaged in this story from the start. To me the book is really more about how character and connections to others work to solve problems and overcome obstacles than about the details.
    • 5/5
      A gentle story, written in the days before cheap and easy international travel, that demonstrates beautifully both the principle of seven degrees of separation and also the support given by people to those who share their hobbies - in this case, model engineering.It's also a reminder that a happy man is the one who has found what he really enjoys in life, and is content with it.
    • 5/5
      A wonderful book. I love the way this little man in his little house and workshop has touched so many people, so that when he needed help he could ask for it - and then he got a lot more without asking. And he managed things wonderfully. Jo would have been surprised at the level of initiative Keith showed! And a perfectly happy ending. Wonderful characters, in every sense of the word; fascinating settings and events; and a great plot. I should read more Shute, he's good.
    • 4/5
      In a way, this is sort of a fairy tale placed in a realistic setting. Keith Stewart, an "insignificant" little engineer who writes for a magazine devoted to model makers, sets out against almost impossible odds to rescue his niece's inheritance which was lost at sea. Along the way, many those who loved his articles and willingness to help the inexperienced—from simple engineers on cargo ships to captains of industry—lend a hand to make his quest a success. The story works in Shute's hands because of his talent for giving us quiet, lovable characters that engage us. It's a nice story in the best sense of the word.
    • 5/5
      A simple story of an engineer with a hobby of writing mag articles about models. Takes in a little girl who he finds out has a fortune lost at sea. He decides to find the treasure and receives help along the way from all his readers around the wold. I can't do this justice in my review as it has been years since my last reading. One of my favorite stories.
    • 5/5
      What a delightful story. I loved it. Hope you will too.