Jean and Robert meet on a train, a special train. This train travels 1930s Australia educating farmers in techniques to improve yield & improve their lives. Robert is a soil scientist. He has the unique ability to taste a sample of soil and tell where it came from. He is on the train to instruct farmers on growing better wheat. Jean is a seamstress. She is on the train to instruct farm wives on how to sew better clothing. Jean say she is not looking for love and yet she finds herself drawn to the taciturn Robert. He is the one who came up with the "Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living." They are 1. Contribute to Society for the achievement of mutual benefits. 2. The only true foundation is a fact. 3. Keep up-to-date. 4. Avoid mawkish consideration of history & religion. 5. Keep the mind flexible through the development & testing of new hypotheses. 6. Cultivate the company of wiser men -- men who are stickers -- not shirkers. 7. Disseminate. The labors and achievements of men of science must become the permanent possession of many. 8. Bring science into the home.
Robert has a dream. He wants to set up an experimental wheat farm and use his scientific knowledge to produce a better, more bountiful crop. He seduces Jean and they get married and move to a farm in the Mallee region of Australia and Robert goes about proving his hypothesis that science can produce better crops for farmers. But Robert founds out that farming isn't really science when the Mallee is plagued by drought for years and by infestations of mice.
It is hard to understand just what Jean sees in Robert. For one thing, she never really says. It is not clear whether she wed because she just wanted a husband or because she fell for him. She never even says that she loves him until the end of the story. Robert never says much either, although he plainly enjoys having sex with her.
Robert comes across as a cold fish and Jean isn't much better. It's hard to warm up to these characters when so much of their internal life is left unsaid. I guess the main point of the story is to point out the inadequacy of science.
Review from Kirkus Reviews: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/carrie-tiffany/everymans-rules-for-scientific-living/.
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