 First edition | |
| Author | Nevil Shute |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Suspense Mystery |
| Publisher | William Heinemann |
Publication date | 1948 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (hardcover & paperback) |
| Pages | 268 pages |
| ISBN | 978-0-09953-009-1 |
No Highway is a 1948 novel by Nevil Shute. It formed the basis of the 1951 film No Highway in the Sky.
A scientist has been claiming that certain parts of a new aircraft called a Reindeer will develop metal fatigue sooner than officially estimated, but nobody takes him seriously. While flying to the site of an air crash that killed a Soviet ambassador, he discovers that his own plane is a Reindeer which has already flown twice its permitted number of hours. He uses his technical knowledge to sabotage it as soon as it lands, putting his credibility further in doubt.
The plot weaves together many themes, such as attitudes to safety, conflicts of interest between management and professionals, Cold War diplomacy, single parenthood and clairvoyance, before the scientist’s theory is finally vindicated. As the novel appears to presage some later real-life disasters and is based on just-emerging knowledge of metal fatigue, it is said to be one of few novels to reveal a new engineering truth.[1]
Shute was a pioneer aircraft designer and co-founder of the aircraft construction company Airspeed Ltd.
- ^ A. Bowdoin Van Riper (2004). Imagining Flight: Aviation and Popular Culture, p. 121