On the Beach

Blurb

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.
Shute's initial story appeared 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 on the storyline. The story has been adapted twice as a film and as a BBC radio broadcast in 2008.