NEVIL SHUTE
Author biography:
Nevil Shute Norway was born in London in 1899 and was educated at the Dragon School and Shrewsbury School, Shropshire. Though he completed training at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Shute suffered from a stammer which prevented him from being commissioned. Instead, he served in the British army as a private beginning in August 1918 and afterwards read engineering at Balliol College, Oxford.
From an early age, Shute demonstrated an interest in airplanes, and in 1923 he began working for de Havilland Aircraft Company. During this period, he learned to fly and wrote books in his spare time. His third novel to be completed was his first to be published, Marazan (1926), and it was quickly followed by others, most of them stories of romance and adventure dealing with pilots and aviation. He published under a shortened version of his name, Nevil Shute, in order to keep his writing of popular novels separate from his reputation as an engineer.
In 1931, Shute married Frances Mary Heaton and in the same year founded an aircraft construction company, Airspeed Ltd., which became a major airplane manufacturer in Britain by the end of the decade. In 1938, the board of his company asked Shute to resign; the generous settlement he received allowed him to devote himself to writing full time. His novels during this period often focused on the Second World War and were extremely popular both in England and abroad.
In 1948, Shute flew his own plane to Australia and back and, feeling oppressed by British taxation, emigrated to Australia with his family two years later. His greatest successes, many of them set in Australia, date from this period and include A Town Like Alice (1950), Round the Bend (1951), which he considered his most important work, and his most famous novel, On the Beach (1957).
Shute died in 1960 of a cerebral hemorrhage.
Nevil Shute Norway was born in London in 1899 and was educated at the Dragon School and Shrewsbury School, Shropshire. Though he completed training at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Shute suffered from a stammer which prevented him from being commissioned. Instead, he served in the British army as a private beginning in August 1918 and afterwards read engineering at Balliol College, Oxford.
From an early age, Shute demonstrated an interest in airplanes, and in 1923 he began working for de Havilland Aircraft Company. During this period, he learned to fly and wrote books in his spare time. His third novel to be completed was his first to be published, Marazan (1926), and it was quickly followed by others, most of them stories of romance and adventure dealing with pilots and aviation. He published under a shortened version of his name, Nevil Shute, in order to keep his writing of popular novels separate from his reputation as an engineer.
In 1931, Shute married Frances Mary Heaton and in the same year founded an aircraft construction company, Airspeed Ltd., which became a major airplane manufacturer in Britain by the end of the decade. In 1938, the board of his company asked Shute to resign; the generous settlement he received allowed him to devote himself to writing full time. His novels during this period often focused on the Second World War and were extremely popular both in England and abroad.
In 1948, Shute flew his own plane to Australia and back and, feeling oppressed by British taxation, emigrated to Australia with his family two years later. His greatest successes, many of them set in Australia, date from this period and include A Town Like Alice (1950), Round the Bend (1951), which he considered his most important work, and his most famous novel, On the Beach (1957).
Shute died in 1960 of a cerebral hemorrhage.
TITLES BY THIS AUTHOR
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