Author | Nevil Shute |
---|---|
Cover artist | John Rowland[1] |
Language | English |
Genre | Apocalyptic novel |
Publisher | Heinemann |
Publication date | 1957 |
Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback) |
Pages | 312 pp |
Text | On the Beach online |
On the Beach is an apocalyptic novel published in 1957, written by British author Nevil Shute after he emigrated to Australia. The novel details the experiences of a mixed group of people in Melbourne as they await the arrival of deadly radiation spreading towards them from the Northern Hemisphere, following a nuclear war some years previous. As the radiation approaches, each person deals with impending death differently.[2][3]
Shute's initial story was published as a four-part series, The Last Days on Earth, in the London weekly periodical Sunday Graphic, in April 1957. For the novel, Shute expanded the storyline.[4] The story has been adapted twice as a film (in 1959 and 2000) and once as a BBC radio broadcast in 2008.