On the Beach
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group · Paperback · February 9, 2010
Nevil Shute’s most powerful novel—a bestseller for decades after its 1957 publication—is an unforgettable vision of a post-apocalyptic world.
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- Who it’s for
- A spare, readable end-of-the-world novel with a quietly grim hold.
- Genres
- Apocalyptic & Post-Apocalyptic, War Fiction, Dystopian
- Published
- Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, February 9, 2010
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Nevil Shute’s most powerful novel—a bestseller for decades after its 1957 publication—is an unforgettable vision of a post-apocalyptic world. After a nuclear World War III has destroyed most of the globe, the few remaining survivors in southern Australia await the radioactive cloud that is heading their way and bringing certain death to everyone in its path.
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Among them is an American submarine captain struggling to resist the knowledge that his wife and children in the United States must be dead. Then a faint Morse code signal is picked up, transmitting from somewhere near Seattle, and Captain Towers must lead his submarine crew on a bleak tour of the ruined world in a desperate search for signs of life. Both terrifying and intensely moving, On the Beach is a remarkably convincing portrait of how ordinary people might face the most unimaginable nightmare.
Quiet Dread
A spare, readable end-of-the-world novel with a quietly grim hold.
Come here for
- apocalyptic setup without fuss
- clean, practical prose
Expect
- accessible, unshowy writing
- literary-classic gravity
Where it sits
| Apocalyptic & Post-Apocalyptic | 100% |
|---|---|
| Dystopian | 47% |
| War Fiction | 41% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Literary Fiction
- Apocalyptic & Post-Apocalyptic
- Dystopian
- Authors
- Nevil Shute
- Publisher
- Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
- Published
- February 9, 2010
- Format
- Paperback
- Reading lane
- Literary Fiction