Rainbow and the rose. Nevil Shute. 1958.

Ronnie Clarke, a pilot on an Australian airline, tells the story himself. When he learns that Johnny Pascoe has crashed in an inaccessible part of Tasmania trying to fly help to a sick girl and is lying with a fractured skull, Ronnie decides to try to land a doctor there, despite the tricky flying conditions; for Johnny Pascoe at sixty is someone whom Ronnie admires, always has admired ever since he taught Ronnie to fly back in England in the Thirties.

By the time Ronnie reaches Pascoe he has come very close to the heart of the man, close to the secrets of his adventurous life and the two disasters of the heart which he once suffered. Here is not only a tremendous yarn about a flying rescue but also a fine portrait of the man to be rescued - Johnny Pascoe.