Nevil Shute

Nevil Shute (London, January 17, 1899 – Melbourne, January 12, 1960) (full name Nevil Shute Norway) was one of the most popular novelists of the mid-20th century. His stories and characters have a genuine sweetness to them, which occasionally becomes cloying, but which helps explain why a half-century after his death, virtually all his books remain in print.

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London - January 17 - 1899 - Melbourne - January 12 - 1960 - Novelist - 20th century

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Shute's works are generally adventure novels told in a low-key but engrossing style, often with an emphasis on technical areas. No Highway (1948), for example, builds drama around structure failure in an airplane design. Several of his novels also have a supernatural element, notably Round the Bend (1951), which concerns a new religion growing up around an airplane mechanic. Shute's best-known book was one of his last: On the Beach (1957), set in a world slowly dying from the effects of an atomic war. Its popularity is due in part to its adaptation into a film, which Shute despised because of the liberties taken with his characters.

Related Topics:
No Highway - 1948 - Round the Bend - 1951 - On the Beach - 1957

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