Other editions of book On the Beach

On the Beach is a 1957 post-apocalyptic novel written by British-Australian 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 a year previously. As the radiation approaches each person deals with their impending death in different ways

A war no one fully understands has devastated the planet with radioactive fallout from massive cobalt bombing. Melbourne, Australia, is the only area whose citizens have not yet succumbed to the contamination. But there isn’t much time left, a few months, maybe more—and the citizens of Melbourne must decide how they will live the remaining weeks of their lives, and how they will face a hopeless future. Published in 1957, On the Beach is considered a classic nuclear holocaust novel, and a masterpiece of speculative fiction.

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. 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. On the Beach is a remarkably convincing portrait of how ordinary people might face the most unimaginable nightmare.

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.