On the Beach

Título: On the Beach

Sinopse: Product Description
On the Beach is about a subject that many writers would be too afraid to discuss. It tells of the terrible effects of a worldwide nuclear war. In 1957, when the book first appeared, many people were afraid of nuclear arms and radiation. The first nuclear bomb was tested in New Mexico in July 1945. In August 1945 nuclear bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, killing 70,000 people immediately. Many more died later from burns and radioactive poisoning. From 1946 until 1958 the United States tested nuclear bombs on Bikini Atoll. Those who had been living on the island were allowed to return there in 1969, but had to leave again in 1978 after the lasting effects of radiation became clearer. This story takes place in Melbourne, Australia. There has been a terrible nuclear war in northern countries. All life has been destroyed there by radiation. In Melbourne some people are still alive. Peter and Mary Holmes and their baby daughter Jennifer are trying to live their lives as normally as possible. The story tells how life changes for this family, and for their friends and neighbours, as the deadly radiation slowly moves south towards them.
Review
“The most haunting evocation we have of a world dying of radiation after an atomic war.” —
The New York Times

“The most shocking fiction I have read in years. What is shocking about it is both the idea and the sheer imaginative brilliance with which Mr. Shute brings it off.” —
San Francisco Chronicle

“A novelist of intelligent and engaging quality, deservedly popular. . . . Nevil Shute was, in brief, the sort of novelist who genuinely touches the imagination and feeling.” —
The Times (London)

From the Trade Paperback edition.
From the Publisher
8 1-hour cassettes
From the Inside Flap
"The most shocking fiction I have read in years. What is shocking about it is both the idea and the sheer imaginative brilliance with which Mr. Shute brings it off."
THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
They are the last generation, the innocent victims of an accidental war, living out their last days, making do with what they have, hoping for a miracle. As the deadly rain moves ever closer, the world as we know it winds toward an inevitable end....
About the Author
Nevil Shute Norway was born in 1899 in Ealing, London. He studied Engineering Science at Balliol College, Oxford. Following his childhood passion, he entered the fledgling aircraft industry as an aeronautical engineer working to develop airships and, later, airplanes. In his spare time he began writing and he published his first novel,
Marazan, in 1926, using the name Nevil Shute to protect his engineering career. In 1931 he married Frances Mary Heaton and they had two daughters. During the Second World War he joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve where he worked on developing secret weapons. After the war he continued to write and settled in Australia where he lived until his death in 1960. His most celebrated novels include
Pied Piper (1942),
A Town Like Alice (1950), and
On the Beach (1957).

From the Trade Paperback edition.