The Collected Works of Nevil Shute

Nevil Shute Norway was a popular British novelist and a successful aeronautical engineer.

He used Nevil Shute as his pen name, and his full name in his engineering career, in order to protect his engineering career from any potential negative publicity in connection with his novels.

He wrote with a power that enthralled millions. Nevil Shute became, in his time, the most popular novelist in the world. He was born to tell stories – of life in the Australian outback and the American West, in Burma and Malaya and the towns and villages of England – stories of the courage and decency of ordinary people, of the values of the individual in an ailing world, of the power of friendship and the force of love, of drama, innocence and disaster.

Nevil Shute Norway worked as an aeronautical engineer at Vickers before setting up his own airship company. He used his full name in his engineering career, and ‘Nevil Shute’ as his pen name, in order to protect his engineering career from any potential negative publicity in connection with his novels. He served in both world wars and was a commander in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in World War II, working on secret projects. He flew his own aircraft to Australia to research On the Beach, before settling there permanently. His books are based on his own wartime and aircraft industry experiences.