Neville Simonson did not seem to be unusual. He was born late in the nineteenth century and spent his early years as a lonely but undefeated child who suffered the loss of his mother when he was five. He lived in a very large house that was inhabited by a few servants, but had few connections to them or anyone else. He entered school at eleven and graduated at sixteen, still alone as far as he was concerned. It was at that juncture that his father, who had been mostly absent from the boy, entered the picture long enough to ...
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Neville Simonson did not seem to be unusual. He was born late in the nineteenth century and spent his early years as a lonely but undefeated child who suffered the loss of his mother when he was five. He lived in a very large house that was inhabited by a few servants, but had few connections to them or anyone else. He entered school at eleven and graduated at sixteen, still alone as far as he was concerned. It was at that juncture that his father, who had been mostly absent from the boy, entered the picture long enough to assign Neville a position on one of the ships Simonson Shipping, the family business, owned. That was the thing Neville had hoped for, and he exulted in possibilities as he started his first journey - to Hong Kong on The Juggernaut, a ship with a name that thrilled the boy although its reality was quite different. The Jug, as the sailors called her, was a small, tubby remnant of a bygone age, but Neville threw himself into the work. The voyage was long and often difficult, but at last it docked in Hong Kong harbor, and Neville was never the same again. From then on, Neville's life changed, and he began to develop his own interests and diversions. His story has many chapters, but is primarily about the family he gathered for himself, and his unusual life that led them all across the globe. His adventures may seem to be understated, but they created a fascinating picture of life that is anything but typical of his age. Neville is, rather obviously, an 'Other' kind of person.
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