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by Nevil Shute

Overview

Nevil Shute was a pioneer in the world of flying long before he began to write the stories that made him a bestselling novelist. This autobiography charts Shute’s path from childhood to his career as a gifted aeronautical engineer working at the forefront of the technological experimentation of the 1920s and 30s. The inspiration for many of the themes and concerns of Shutes novels can be found in this enjoyable and enlightening memoir.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780307474186
Publisher:	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/12/2010
Series:	Vintage International
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	300
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Nevil Shute Norway was born in 1899 in Ealing, London. He studied Engineering Science at Balliol College, Oxford. Following his childhood passion, he entered the fledgling aircraft industry as an aeronautical engineer working to develop airships and, later, airplanes. In his spare time he began writing and he published his first novel, Marazan, in 1926, using the name Nevil Shute to protect his engineering career. In 1931 he married Frances Mary Heaton and they had two daughters. During the Second World War he joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve where he worked on developing secret weapons. After the war he continued to write and settled in Australia where he lived until his death in 1960. His most celebrated novels include Pied Piper (1942), A Town Like Alice (1950), and On the Beach (1957).

Editorial Reviews

In America, Nevil Shute--British aeronautical engineer turned esteemed novelist--is best known for the bestselling ON THE BEACH, in which Aussies go gently into a nuclear good night. This, his autobiography, goes equally gently into his life and time, from birth to the threshold of WWII. And stuffily, too, at least as interpreted by narrator Michael Tudor Barnes. Though affecting considerable enthusiasm, Barnes fails to make it infectious. He even underplays or misses much of the humor, thus further reducing whatever charm the original possesses. Still, one can admire the lean, precise writing and historical color. Y.R. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

FEB/MAR 06 - AudioFile