Nevil Shute
Encyclopedia
Nevil Shute Norway was a popular British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...

-Australian
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 novelist and a successful aeronautical engineer. He used his full name in his engineering career, and 'Nevil Shute' as his pen name, in order to protect his engineering career from any potential negative publicity in connection with his novels.

Background

Born in Somerset Road, Ealing
Ealing
Ealing is a suburban area of west London, England and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Ealing. It is located west of Charing Cross and around from the City of London. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically a rural village...

, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, he was educated at the Dragon School
Dragon School
The Dragon School is a British coeducational, preparatory school in the city of Oxford, founded in 1877 as the Oxford Preparatory School, or OPS. It is primarily known as a boarding school, although it also takes day pupils...

, Shrewsbury School
Shrewsbury School
Shrewsbury School is a co-educational independent school for pupils aged 13 to 18, founded by Royal Charter in 1552. The present campus to which the school moved in 1882 is located on the banks of the River Severn in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England...

 and Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....

. Shute's father, Arthur Hamilton Norway, became head of the post office in Ireland before the First World War, and was based at the main post office in Dublin in 1916, at the time of the Easter Rising
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic at a time when the British Empire was heavily engaged in the First World War...

. His son was later commended for his role as a stretcher bearer during the rising. Shute attended the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich but because of his stammer
Stuttering
Stuttering , also known as stammering , is a speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words or phrases, and involuntary silent pauses or blocks in which the stutterer is unable to produce sounds...

 was unable to take up a commission in the Royal Flying Corps
Royal Flying Corps
The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...

, instead serving in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 as a soldier in the Suffolk Regiment. An aeronautical engineer
Aerospace engineering
Aerospace engineering is the primary branch of engineering concerned with the design, construction and science of aircraft and spacecraft. It is divided into two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering...

 as well as a pilot, he began his engineering career with de Havilland Aircraft Company but, dissatisfied with the lack of opportunities for advancement, took a position in 1924 with Vickers Ltd., where he was involved with the development of airship
Airship
An airship or dirigible is a type of aerostat or "lighter-than-air aircraft" that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust mechanisms...

s. Shute worked as Chief Calculator (stress engineer) on the R100
R100
HM Airship R100 was a privately designed and built rigid airship made as part of a two-ship competition to develop new techniques for a projected larger commercial airship for use on British empire routes...

 airship project for the subsidiary Airship Guarantee Company. In 1929, he was promoted to Deputy Chief Engineer of the R100 project under Sir Barnes Wallis.

The R100 was a prototype for passenger-carrying airships that would serve the needs of Britain's empire. The government-funded but privately-developed R100 was a modest success in that it made a successful return trip to and from Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 but the fatal 1930 crash in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 of its government-developed counterpart R101
R101
R101 was one of a pair of British rigid airship completed in 1929 as part of a British government programme to develop civil airships capable of service on long-distance routes within the British Empire. It was designed and built by an Air Ministry-appointed team and was effectively in competition...

 while flying to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 ended Britain's interest in airships. The R100 was grounded and scrapped. Shute gives a detailed account of the episode in his 1954 autobiographical work, Slide Rule
Slide Rule: Autobiography of an Engineer
Slide Rule: Autobiography of an Engineer is the partial autobiography of the British novelist Nevil Shute. It was first published in 1954. Slide Rule concentrates on Nevil Shute's work in aerospace, ending in 1938 when he left the industry....

.He has strongly hinted in this autobiography that if there had been co-operation between the two teams the tragedy of R101
R101
R101 was one of a pair of British rigid airship completed in 1929 as part of a British government programme to develop civil airships capable of service on long-distance routes within the British Empire. It was designed and built by an Air Ministry-appointed team and was effectively in competition...

 could well have been averted.But according to Shute there was virtually no contact between him and Sir Harold Roxbee Cox who was the Head of Development of R101
R101
R101 was one of a pair of British rigid airship completed in 1929 as part of a British government programme to develop civil airships capable of service on long-distance routes within the British Empire. It was designed and built by an Air Ministry-appointed team and was effectively in competition...

 project until the very end.

He left Vickers shortly afterward and in 1931 founded the aircraft construction company Airspeed Ltd.

Despite setbacks and tribulations, and the standard problem of the start-up business, liquidity, Airspeed Limited eventually gained significant recognition when its Envoy
Airspeed Envoy
The Airspeed AS.6 Envoy was a British light, twin-engined transport aircraft designed and built by Airspeed Ltd. in the 1930s at Portsmouth Aerodrome, Hampshire.-Development and design:...

 aircraft was chosen for the King's Flight. The innovation of fitting a retractable undercarriage to the Airspeed earned Shute a Fellowship of the Royal Aeronautical Society
Royal Aeronautical Society
The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a multidisciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community.-Function:...

, the writing process of which he used as a plot device for No Highway
No Highway
No Highway is a 1948 novel by Nevil Shute. It later formed the basis of the 1951 film No Highway in the Sky. The novel contains many of the ingredients that made Shute popular as a novelist, and, like several other of Shute's later novels, includes an element of the supernatural.Nevil Shute...

.

Shute identified how engineering, science and design could improve human life and more than once used the apparently anonymous epigram, "It has been said an engineer is a man who can do for ten shillings what any fool can do for a pound...." It is said that Shute was a cousin of the red haired Irish-American actress Geraldine Fitzgerald
Geraldine Fitzgerald
Geraldine Fitzgerald, Lady Lindsay-Hogg was an Irish-American actress and a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame.-Early life:...

 (born 1913). However, this seems to be a confusion with his account in his autobiography of his older brother Fred's proposal in Dublin in 1913 to the "ravishingly beautiful ... dark hair[ed]" Geraldine Fitzgerald who wanted to go on the stage. Fred Shute himself died of wounds in France in 1915.

On 7 March 1931, Shute married Frances Mary Heaton, a 28-year-old medical practitioner. They had two daughters, Heather and Shirley.

By the outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, Shute was already a rising novelist. Even as war seemed imminent he was working on military projects with his former Vickers boss Sir Dennistoun Burney
Charles Dennistoun Burney
Sir Charles Dennistoun Burney, 2nd Baronet was an English aeronautical engineer, private inventor and Conservative Party politician....

. He joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve
Royal Naval Reserve
The Royal Naval Reserve is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. The present Royal Naval Reserve was formed in 1958 by merging the original Royal Naval Reserve and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve , a reserve of civilian volunteers founded in 1903...

 as a sub-lieutenant and quickly ended up in what would become the Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapons Development
Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapons Development
The Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapons Development , known colloquially as the Wheezers and Dodgers, was a department of the Admiralty responsible for the development of various unconventional weapons during World War II...

. There he was a department head, working on secret weapons such as Panjandrum
Panjandrum
Panjandrum, known also as The Great Panjandrum, was a massive, rocket-propelled, explosive-laden cart designed by the British military during World War II. It was one of a number of highly experimental projects, including Hajile and the Hedgehog, that were developed by the Admiralty's Directorate...

, a job that appealed to the engineer in him. His celebrity as a writer caused the Ministry of Information to send him to the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944 and later to Burma as a correspondent. He finished the war with the rank of Lieutenant-Commander, R.N.V.R.

In 1948, after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, he flew his own Percival Proctor
Percival Proctor
The Percival Proctor was a British radio trainer and communications aircraft of the Second World War. The Proctor was a single-engine, low-wing monoplane with seating for three or four, depending on the model.-Design and development:...

 light airplane to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. On his return home, concerned about the general decline in his home country, he decided that he and his family would emigrate and so, in 1950, he settled with his wife and two daughters, on farmland at Langwarrin, south-east of Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

. In Slide Rule quoted from the diary he kept during the R-100's successful test flight to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. Shute had written in 1930, "I would never have believed after a fortnight's stay I should be so sorry to leave a country." In 1954 he introduced that quote, "For the first time in my life I saw how people live in an English-speaking country outside England," and said it was interesting in light of his later decision to emigrate to Australia.

In the 1950s and '60s he was one of the world's best-selling popular novelists, although his popularity has declined. However, he retains a core of dedicated readers who share information through various web pages such as The Nevil Shute Foundation.

He had a brief career as a racing driver in Australia between 1956 and 1958, driving a white XK140 Jaguar
Jaguar (car)
Jaguar Cars Ltd, known simply as Jaguar , is a British luxury car manufacturer, headquartered in Whitley, Coventry, England. It is part of the Jaguar Land Rover business, a subsidiary of the Indian company Tata Motors....

. Some of this experience found its way into his book On the Beach. Many of his books were filmed, including Lonely Road, Landfall, Pied Piper
Pied Piper (1942 novel)
thumb|1st edition cover Pied Piper is a novel by Nevil Shute, first published in 1942. The title is a reference to the traditional German folk tale, "The Pied Piper of Hamelin".-Plot summary:...

, On the Beach (in 1959 and also in 2000), No Highway
No Highway
No Highway is a 1948 novel by Nevil Shute. It later formed the basis of the 1951 film No Highway in the Sky. The novel contains many of the ingredients that made Shute popular as a novelist, and, like several other of Shute's later novels, includes an element of the supernatural.Nevil Shute...

(in 1951) and A Town Like Alice
A Town Like Alice
A Town Like Alice is a novel by the British author Nevil Shute about a young Englishwoman in Malaya during World War II and in outback Australia post-war....

(in 1956). The last was serialised for Australian television in 1981, as was, a little later, The Far Country.

Shute lived a comfortable middle-class English life. His heroes tended to be middle class: solicitors, doctors, accountants, bank managers, engineers. Usually, like himself, they had enjoyed the privilege of university, not then within the purview of the lower classes. However (as in Trustee from the Toolroom
Trustee from the Toolroom
Trustee from the Toolroom is a novel written by Nevil Shute. Shute died in January 1960; Trustee was published posthumously later that year.-Plot summary:...

), Shute valued the honest artisan, his social integrity and contributions to society, more than the contributions of the upper classes.

Shute died in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

 in 1960 after a stroke.

Themes

Aviation is the backdrop in many of Shute's novels, which are written in a simple, highly readable style, with clearly delineated plot lines. Where there is a romantic element, sex is referred to only obliquely. Many of the stories are introduced by a narrator who is not a character in the story. The most common theme in Shute's novels is the dignity of work, spanning all classes, whether an Eastern European bar "hostess" (Ruined City) or brilliant boffin
Boffin
In the slang of the United Kingdom, boffins are scientists, medical doctors, engineers, and other people engaged in technical or scientific research.-Origin:...

 (No Highway
No Highway
No Highway is a 1948 novel by Nevil Shute. It later formed the basis of the 1951 film No Highway in the Sky. The novel contains many of the ingredients that made Shute popular as a novelist, and, like several other of Shute's later novels, includes an element of the supernatural.Nevil Shute...

). Another recurrent theme is the bridging of social barriers such as class (Lonely Road and Landfall), race (The Chequer Board
The Chequer Board
The Chequer Board is a novel by Nevil Shute, first published in the UK in 1947 by William Heinemann Ltd. The novel deals fairly with the question of racism within the US forces during World War II and portrays black characters with great sympathy and support.-Plot summary:It is a multi-part story...

) or religion (Round the Bend
Round the Bend (1951 novel)
Round the Bend was a 1951 novel by Nevil Shute. It tells the story of Constantine "Connie" Shaklin, an aircraft engineer who founds a new religion transcending existing religions based on the merit of good work....

). The Australian novels are individual hymns to that country, with subtle disparagement of the mores of the USA (Beyond the Black Stump
Beyond the Black Stump
Beyond the Black Stump is a novel by British author Nevil Shute. It was first published in the UK by William Heinemann Ltd in 1956.-Plot summary:...

) and overt antipathy towards the post World War II socialist government of Shute's native Britain (The Far Country
The Far Country (1952 novel)
The Far Country is a novel by Nevil Shute, first published in 1952.In this novel, Shute has some harsh things to say about the new National Health Service, as well as the socialist Labour government, themes he would later develop more fully in In the Wet...

and In the Wet
In the Wet
thumb|1st Australian edition In The Wet is a novel by Nevil Shute that was first published in the UK in 1953...

).

The novels with mini summaries

Shute's works can be divided into three sequential thematic categories: Prewar; War; and Australia.

Prewar

The Prewar category includes:
  • Stephen Morris
    Stephen Morris (novel)
    Stephen Morris and Pilotage are two short novels by Nevile Shute; the first novels he wrote after writing poetry and short stories. Stephen Morris was finished in 1923 while Shute was working at Stag Lane for de Havillands, and Pilotage was written in 1924...

    (1923, published 1961): a young pilot takes on a daring and dangerous mission.
  • Pilotage (1924, published 1961): a continuation of "Stephen Morris."
  • Marazan
    Marazan
    Marazan is the first published novel by the British author Nevil Shute. It was originally published in 1926 by Cassell & Co, then republished in 1951 by William Heinemann.-Plot summary :...

    (1926); a convict rescues a downed pilot who helps him break up a drug ring.
  • So Disdained
    So Disdained
    So Disdained is the second published novel by British author, Nevil Shute. It was first published in 1928 by Cassell & Co, then republished in 1951 by William Heinemann and issued in paperback by Pan Books in 1966....

    (1928), written soon after the General Strike of 1926, reflected the debate in British Society about socialism and considered whether Italian fascism was an effective antidote.
  • Lonely Road (1932): This novel deals with conspiracies and counterconspiracies, in an experimental writing style.
  • Ruined City
    Ruined City (novel)
    thumb|1st US editionRuined City, sometimes published as Kindling, is a 1938 novel by Nevil Shute.-Plot summary:The book tells the story of Henry Warren, a City of London financier and head of his firm, Warren Sons and Mortimer. Amid the Depression, Warren continues to make money through hard work...

    (1938; U.S. title: Kindling) a rich banker revives a town economically with a shipbuilding company through questionable financial dealings. He goes to jail for fraud, but the shipyard revives. Ruined City was distilled from Shute's experiences in trying to set up his own aircraft company.
  • An Old Captivity
    An Old Captivity
    An Old Captivity is a novel by British author Nevil Shute. It was first published in the UK in 1940 by William Heinemann.-Plot summary:The principal character is a young Scottish pilot with bush-flying experience in Canada, Donald Ross, who is hired by an Oxford don, Cyril Lockwood, to pilot an air...

    (1940): the story of a pilot hired to take aerial photographs of a site in Greenland, who suffers a drug-induced flashback to Viking times.

War

The War novels include:
  • What Happened to the Corbetts
    What Happened to the Corbetts
    What Happened to the Corbetts is a novel by Nevil Shute. Written in 1938, and published in April 1939 by William Heinemann Ltd, the novel concerns the effect of aerial bombing on the British city of Southampton - a major maritime centre - in the early part of World War II.The novel addresses the...

    (1938; U.S Title: Ordeal), forecasts the bombing of Southampton.
  • Landfall: A Channel Story
    Landfall: A Channel Story
    Landfall: A Channel Story is a novel by Nevil Shute. It was first published in England in 1940.The story is set during the opening months of World War II and it concerns a young pilot, Roderick 'Jerry' Chambers, who is part of an air patrol unit guarding the southern coast of England - around...

    (1940): A young RAF pilot is accused of sinking a British sub.
  • Pied Piper
    Pied Piper (1942 novel)
    thumb|1st edition cover Pied Piper is a novel by Nevil Shute, first published in 1942. The title is a reference to the traditional German folk tale, "The Pied Piper of Hamelin".-Plot summary:...

    (1942). An old man rescues seven children (one of them the niece of a Gestapo officer) from France during the Nazi invasion.
  • Pastoral
    Pastoral (novel)
    Pastoral is a novel by the English author Nevil Shute. It was first published in 1944. Its theme is that even in the midst of war, and among warriors, everyday life, such as romance, will continue....

    (1944): Crew relations and love at an airbase in rural surroundings in wartime England.
  • Most Secret
    Most Secret
    thumb|1st edition coverMost Secret is a novel by Nevil Shute, written in 1942 but censored until 1945, when it was published by Pan Books. It is narrated by a Commander in the Royal Navy, and tells the story of four officers who launch a daring mission at the time when Britain stood alone against...

    (1945): Unconventional attacks on German forces using a French fishing boat.
  • The Chequer Board
    The Chequer Board
    The Chequer Board is a novel by Nevil Shute, first published in the UK in 1947 by William Heinemann Ltd. The novel deals fairly with the question of racism within the US forces during World War II and portrays black characters with great sympathy and support.-Plot summary:It is a multi-part story...

    (1947): A dying man looks up three wartime comrades. The novel contains an interesting discussion of racism in the American Army: British townsfolk prefer the company of black soldiers.
  • The Seafarers (2000): Novella recently published but written in 1946-7. The story of a dashing naval Lieutenant and a Wren who meet right at the end of the Second World War. Their romance is blighted by differences in social background and economic constraints; in unhappiness each turns to odd jobs in boating circles.

Australia

The Australia novels include:
  • No Highway
    No Highway
    No Highway is a 1948 novel by Nevil Shute. It later formed the basis of the 1951 film No Highway in the Sky. The novel contains many of the ingredients that made Shute popular as a novelist, and, like several other of Shute's later novels, includes an element of the supernatural.Nevil Shute...

    (1948): An eccentric "boffin" at RAE Farnborough
    Royal Aircraft Establishment
    The Royal Aircraft Establishment , was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the UK Ministry of Defence , before finally losing its identity in mergers with other institutions.The first site was at Farnborough...

     predicts metal fatigue
    Metal Fatigue
    Metal Fatigue , is a futuristic science fiction, real-time strategy computer game developed by Zono Incorporated and published by Psygnosis and TalonSoft .-Plot:...

     in a new airliner. Interestingly, the Comet
    De Havilland Comet
    The de Havilland DH 106 Comet was the world's first commercial jet airliner to reach production. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland at the Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom headquarters, it first flew in 1949 and was a landmark in aeronautical design...

     failed for just this reason several years later, in 1954. Set in Britain and Canada.
  • A Town Like Alice
    A Town Like Alice
    A Town Like Alice is a novel by the British author Nevil Shute about a young Englishwoman in Malaya during World War II and in outback Australia post-war....

    (1950; U.S. title: The Legacy): the hero and heroine meet while both are prisoners of the Japanese. After the war they seek each other out and reunite in a small Australian town that would have no future if not for her plans to turn it into "a town like Alice
    Alice Springs, Northern Territory
    Alice Springs is the second largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Popularly known as "the Alice" or simply "Alice", Alice Springs is situated in the geographic centre of Australia near the southern border of the Northern Territory...

    ."
  • Round the Bend
    Round the Bend (1951 novel)
    Round the Bend was a 1951 novel by Nevil Shute. It tells the story of Constantine "Connie" Shaklin, an aircraft engineer who founds a new religion transcending existing religions based on the merit of good work....

    (1951), about a new religion developing around an aircraft mechanic. Shute considered this his best novel. It tackles racism, condemning the White Australia policy
    White Australia policy
    The White Australia policy comprises various historical policies that intentionally restricted "non-white" immigration to Australia. From origins at Federation in 1901, the polices were progressively dismantled between 1949-1973....

    .
  • The Far Country
    The Far Country (1952 novel)
    The Far Country is a novel by Nevil Shute, first published in 1952.In this novel, Shute has some harsh things to say about the new National Health Service, as well as the socialist Labour government, themes he would later develop more fully in In the Wet...

    (1952): A young woman travels to Australia. A condemnation of British socialism and the national health service.
  • In the Wet
    In the Wet
    thumb|1st Australian edition In The Wet is a novel by Nevil Shute that was first published in the UK in 1953...

    (1953); an Anglican priest tells the story of an Australian aviator. This embraces a drug-induced flash forward to Britain in the 1980s. The novel criticizes British socialism.
  • Requiem for a Wren
    Requiem for a Wren
    Requiem For A Wren is a novel by Nevil Shute. It was first published in 1955 by William Heinemann Ltd. It was published in the USA under the title The Breaking Wave.-Plot summary:...

    (1955; U.S. title: The Breaking Wave): The story of a young British woman who, plagued with guilt after shooting down a plane carrying Polish refugees in World War II, moves to Australia to work anonymously for the parents of her (now deceased) Australian lover, whilst the lover's brother searches for her in Britain.
  • Beyond the Black Stump
    Beyond the Black Stump
    Beyond the Black Stump is a novel by British author Nevil Shute. It was first published in the UK by William Heinemann Ltd in 1956.-Plot summary:...

    (1956): The ethical standards of an unconventional family living in a remote part of Australia are compared with those of a conventional family living in Washington State.
  • On the Beach (1957), Shute's best-known novel, is set in Melbourne, whose population is awaiting death from the effects of an atomic war. It was serialized in more than 40 newspapers, and adapted into a 1959 film
    On the Beach (1959 film)
    On the Beach is a post-apocalyptic drama film based on Nevil Shute's 1957 novel of the same name. The film features Gregory Peck , Ava Gardner , Fred Astaire and Anthony Perkins...

     starring Gregory Peck
    Gregory Peck
    Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...

     and Ava Gardner
    Ava Gardner
    Ava Lavinia Gardner was an American actress.She was signed to a contract by MGM Studios in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew attention with her performance in The Killers . She became one of Hollywood's leading actresses, considered one of the most beautiful women of her day...

    . In 2007, Gideon Haigh wrote an article in The Monthly arguing that On the Beach is Australia's most important novel: "Most novels of apocalypse posit at least a group of survivors and the semblance of hope. On The Beach allows nothing of the kind."
  • The Rainbow and the Rose
    The Rainbow and the Rose
    The Rainbow and the Rose is a novel by Nevil Shute. It was first published in England in 1958 by William Heinemann.-Plot summary:The story concerns the life of Johnnie Pascoe, a retired commercial and military pilot, who has engaged in a dangerous rescue in a mountainous region of Tasmania...

    (1958): One man's three love stories; narration shifts from the narrator to the main character and back.
  • Trustee from the Toolroom
    Trustee from the Toolroom
    Trustee from the Toolroom is a novel written by Nevil Shute. Shute died in January 1960; Trustee was published posthumously later that year.-Plot summary:...

    (1960) about the recovery of a lost legacy of diamonds from a wrecked sailboat. Set in Britain, the Pacific Islands and the U.S. northwest.

Shute also published his autobiography Slide Rule: Autobiography of an Engineer
Slide Rule: Autobiography of an Engineer
Slide Rule: Autobiography of an Engineer is the partial autobiography of the British novelist Nevil Shute. It was first published in 1954. Slide Rule concentrates on Nevil Shute's work in aerospace, ending in 1938 when he left the industry....

in 1954.

Works

  • Stephen Morris
    Stephen Morris (novel)
    Stephen Morris and Pilotage are two short novels by Nevile Shute; the first novels he wrote after writing poetry and short stories. Stephen Morris was finished in 1923 while Shute was working at Stag Lane for de Havillands, and Pilotage was written in 1924...

    and Pilotage (1923, published posthumously in 1961) ISBN 1-84232-297-4
  • Marazan
    Marazan
    Marazan is the first published novel by the British author Nevil Shute. It was originally published in 1926 by Cassell & Co, then republished in 1951 by William Heinemann.-Plot summary :...

    (1926) ISBN 1-84232-265-6
  • So Disdained
    So Disdained
    So Disdained is the second published novel by British author, Nevil Shute. It was first published in 1928 by Cassell & Co, then republished in 1951 by William Heinemann and issued in paperback by Pan Books in 1966....

    (1928) (also published under the title The Mysterious Aviator) ISBN 1-84232-294-X
  • Lonely Road (1932) ISBN 1-84232-261-3
  • Ruined City
    Ruined City (novel)
    thumb|1st US editionRuined City, sometimes published as Kindling, is a 1938 novel by Nevil Shute.-Plot summary:The book tells the story of Henry Warren, a City of London financier and head of his firm, Warren Sons and Mortimer. Amid the Depression, Warren continues to make money through hard work...

    (1938) (also published under the title Kindling) ISBN 1-84232-290-7
  • What Happened to the Corbetts
    What Happened to the Corbetts
    What Happened to the Corbetts is a novel by Nevil Shute. Written in 1938, and published in April 1939 by William Heinemann Ltd, the novel concerns the effect of aerial bombing on the British city of Southampton - a major maritime centre - in the early part of World War II.The novel addresses the...

    (1939) (also published under the title Ordeal) ISBN 1-84232-302-4
  • An Old Captivity
    An Old Captivity
    An Old Captivity is a novel by British author Nevil Shute. It was first published in the UK in 1940 by William Heinemann.-Plot summary:The principal character is a young Scottish pilot with bush-flying experience in Canada, Donald Ross, who is hired by an Oxford don, Cyril Lockwood, to pilot an air...

    (1940) ISBN 1-84232-275-3
  • Landfall: A Channel Story
    Landfall: A Channel Story
    Landfall: A Channel Story is a novel by Nevil Shute. It was first published in England in 1940.The story is set during the opening months of World War II and it concerns a young pilot, Roderick 'Jerry' Chambers, who is part of an air patrol unit guarding the southern coast of England - around...

    (1940) ISBN 1-84232-258-3
  • Pied Piper
    Pied Piper (1942 novel)
    thumb|1st edition cover Pied Piper is a novel by Nevil Shute, first published in 1942. The title is a reference to the traditional German folk tale, "The Pied Piper of Hamelin".-Plot summary:...

    (1942) ISBN 1-84232-278-8
  • Most Secret
    Most Secret
    thumb|1st edition coverMost Secret is a novel by Nevil Shute, written in 1942 but censored until 1945, when it was published by Pan Books. It is narrated by a Commander in the Royal Navy, and tells the story of four officers who launch a daring mission at the time when Britain stood alone against...

    (1942 - published 1945) ISBN 1-84232-269-9
  • Pastoral
    Pastoral (novel)
    Pastoral is a novel by the English author Nevil Shute. It was first published in 1944. Its theme is that even in the midst of war, and among warriors, everyday life, such as romance, will continue....

    (1944) ISBN 1-84232-277-X
  • Vinland the Good
    Vinland the Good
    Vinland the Good is the title of at least two books.* It is a film script by British author Nevil Shute telling the historical story of the discovery of America by Leif Ericsson in 1003. The book was originally published in 1946 in England by Heinemann and in America by Morrow, and re-published in...

    (1946) ISBN 1-8894-39-11-8
  • The Chequer Board
    The Chequer Board
    The Chequer Board is a novel by Nevil Shute, first published in the UK in 1947 by William Heinemann Ltd. The novel deals fairly with the question of racism within the US forces during World War II and portrays black characters with great sympathy and support.-Plot summary:It is a multi-part story...

    (1947) ISBN 1-84232-248-6
  • No Highway
    No Highway
    No Highway is a 1948 novel by Nevil Shute. It later formed the basis of the 1951 film No Highway in the Sky. The novel contains many of the ingredients that made Shute popular as a novelist, and, like several other of Shute's later novels, includes an element of the supernatural.Nevil Shute...

    (1948) ISBN 1-84232-273-7
  • A Town Like Alice
    A Town Like Alice
    A Town Like Alice is a novel by the British author Nevil Shute about a young Englishwoman in Malaya during World War II and in outback Australia post-war....

    (1950) (also published under the title The Legacy) ISBN 1-84232-300-8
  • Round the Bend
    Round the Bend (1951 novel)
    Round the Bend was a 1951 novel by Nevil Shute. It tells the story of Constantine "Connie" Shaklin, an aircraft engineer who founds a new religion transcending existing religions based on the merit of good work....

    (1951) ISBN 1-84232-289-3
  • The Far Country
    The Far Country (1952 novel)
    The Far Country is a novel by Nevil Shute, first published in 1952.In this novel, Shute has some harsh things to say about the new National Health Service, as well as the socialist Labour government, themes he would later develop more fully in In the Wet...

    (1952) ISBN 1-84232-251-6
  • In the Wet
    In the Wet
    thumb|1st Australian edition In The Wet is a novel by Nevil Shute that was first published in the UK in 1953...

    (1953) ISBN 1-84232-254-0
  • Slide Rule: Autobiography of an Engineer
    Slide Rule: Autobiography of an Engineer
    Slide Rule: Autobiography of an Engineer is the partial autobiography of the British novelist Nevil Shute. It was first published in 1954. Slide Rule concentrates on Nevil Shute's work in aerospace, ending in 1938 when he left the industry....

    (1954) ISBN 1-84232-291-5; (1964: Ballantine, New York)
  • Requiem for a Wren
    Requiem for a Wren
    Requiem For A Wren is a novel by Nevil Shute. It was first published in 1955 by William Heinemann Ltd. It was published in the USA under the title The Breaking Wave.-Plot summary:...

    (1955) (also published under the title The Breaking Wave) ISBN 1-84232-286-9
  • Beyond the Black Stump
    Beyond the Black Stump
    Beyond the Black Stump is a novel by British author Nevil Shute. It was first published in the UK by William Heinemann Ltd in 1956.-Plot summary:...

    (1956) ISBN 1-84232-246-X
  • On the Beach (1957) ISBN 1-84232-276-1
  • The Rainbow and the Rose
    The Rainbow and the Rose
    The Rainbow and the Rose is a novel by Nevil Shute. It was first published in England in 1958 by William Heinemann.-Plot summary:The story concerns the life of Johnnie Pascoe, a retired commercial and military pilot, who has engaged in a dangerous rescue in a mountainous region of Tasmania...

    (1958) ISBN 1-84232-283-4
  • Trustee from the Toolroom
    Trustee from the Toolroom
    Trustee from the Toolroom is a novel written by Nevil Shute. Shute died in January 1960; Trustee was published posthumously later that year.-Plot summary:...

    (1960) ISBN 1-84232-301-6
  • The Seafarers (published in 2000) ISBN 1-889439-32-0

Honours

Norway Road and Nevil Shute Road at Portsmouth Airport, Hampshire were both named after him.
Shute Avenue in Berwick, Victoria
Berwick, Victoria
Berwick is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Casey. At the 2006 Census, Berwick had a population of 36,420....

 was named after him, when the farm used for filming the 1959 movie was subdivided for housing.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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