My personal favorite by Shute, this book was
published simultaneously in Canada in 1950 by Wm.
Collins Son & Company and published in Great
Britain, by Heinemann, under the title A Town Like
Alice.

The big key to identifying this title as a first edition is to make sure
that the book does not show a later printing on the copyright page
and to follow the basics which we have covered in The Basics of
identifying first Morrow editions of Shute's books .... (1)Make sure
there is a price on inside dust jacket flap (the price shown on The
Legacy dust jacket flap is $3.00) (2) Make sure Morrow is the only
publisher shown as the publisher for this particular edition, although
the first edition will mention publications in other countries (Canada
and Great Britain). (Check on the copyright page that an additional
printing is not shown for this particular edition. Below I show
images of the complete dust jacket.

An excellent VHS movie , with actors Bryan Brown and Helen
Morse, was made of this story a few years back under the
name of the British printing, A Town like Alice. It can be
purchased through amazon.com.