Stephen Morris

By Nevil Shute

These two related novellas, Stephen Morris and Pilotage, were Nevil Shute’s first works of fiction and drew on his own youthful experiences. Both concern young men obsessed with the early world of aviation. Stephen Morris has just called off his engagement to the girl he loves because he is a penniless graduate with no prospects—but for his dream of building airplanes. Pilotage continues the story, focusing on Stephen's ambitious navigator Peter Dennison, as he tests a daring idea for a new cross-Atlantic airmail service.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Sep 14, 2010
• ISBN: 9780307474216

Reviews for Stephen Morris

[harrymacdonald · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

In my experience, aviation fans (a bit like railfans) tend to read with more zeal than critical acumen, at-least in regards to narrative style and technique. That said, I consider this novel to be not an example of Shute at his best, even though Shute on an off-day, could beat most other modern novelists in cards and spades. My problem with this particular opus is that the characters aren't very interesting, and sometimes the pronoun-references and dialogue left me in doubt as to who was speaking or being spoken-about. Was Shute too big a shot to be edited? Even so, a decent read, if by no means a great one.

[doubler_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If not his first, certainly a very early one, I think I read somewhere that it was autoboigraphical. Interesting.