Shute, Nevil: On the Beach

Referat
Nevil Shute ON THE BEACH THE AUTHOR: Nevil Shute was born in Ealing London on January 17th ,1899, and died in Melbourne on January 12th, 1960. He was a learned plane engineer, but later became an author. War and planes are common themes in his work. Some of his books are Round The Bend, The Chequer Board, Pastoral, and The Far Country. CHARACTERS: Peter Holmes: liasion officer in Melbourne Mary Holmes: his wife Jennifer Holmes: Peter s and Mary s baby Moira Davidson: a friend of the Holmses; loves Captain Towers Captain Towers: Captain of the submarine USS Scorpion THE STORY: The story is set in Australia after a nuclear war. First it had been a war betweem Russia and China, but then other countries had interfered. All these states had had nuclear bombs and had thrown them onto others. In Australia the humans were still alive, but the whole northern hemisphere was dead. Peter Holmes, who lived with his wife Mary and his baby Jennifer in Melbourne, got a job as a liasion officer on the submarine USS Scorpion under the command of Captain Towers. Their charge is to look for signs of life in the north. Peter invited Towers to Mary s and his party. There Towers met Moira Davidson, a friend of Mary s. On the next day the started their cruise. John Osborne, a scienstist, who had to investigate the radiation level, was with them, They observed many cities, but the did not find any sign of life. When they came back to Melbourne, Peter invited Towers and Moira. Peter had to explain ...