Moira does succeed, as she manages to bring fun and excitement to Dwight's last months.

In the beginning of the novel, Mary Holmes ordered Moira to keep Dwight entertained and distracted during his visit. Moira finds life annoying because she has nothing else to do but help on her parent's farm. Whenever the reality of the situation becomes too bad, she escapes to drink and dance. Moira is a friend of Peter Holmes, she is a lively twenty-four-year old woman who drinks a lot of alcohol as a relief from the despair that she will never be able to marry, have a family, travel, or fulfil any of her other dreams. Dwight simply does not have the imagination to be able to grasp that the American people, his family included, no longer exist. He knows that his wife and children are dead, but he acts like they are still alive, for instance he buys presents for them. He doesn't do things the Navy wouldn't permit, even during the last days he lives by the rules. He is very loyal to his wife and to the navy. Dwight does his work with a sense of who he is and what his role is in the world. He also realizes that his job carries obligations and that he must fulfil them, even in these strange circumstances. He knows how to lead a crew and he does it well. He wrote 25 books in his life.ĭwight is the hard-working, loyal, soft-spoken captain of the American nuclear submarine. Shute died in Melbourne in 1960 after a stroke. They had two daughters, Heather and Shirley. Shute was married to a successful 28-year old medical practitioner. In the 1950s and '60s he was one of the world's best-selling novelists. Many of his books have been successfully filmed, for example, Scotland Yard Commands (1937) a version of Lonely Road No Highway (1951) On the Beach (1959, in Australia) and A town like Alice has been filmed twice. He decided to take up permanent residence in Australia in 1950's. He arrived in Australia in 1948-49, after flying his own plane, to explore the opportunity for fresh ideas for his work, in his journey to Australia he produced two of his best-known works, A town like Alice (1950) and Round the Bend (1951). He held this position until 1938 when the popularity of his two novels persuaded him to become a full-time author. After that he started his own aircraft company and worked on the development of secret weapons for the British in World War2. The De Havilland Aircraft Company employed him as an engineer in 1923.

He was in 1918, for a short time, in the British Infantry prior to studying at Oxford University. His first ambition was to be a Royal Flying corps gunnery officer but he was unsuccessful in his medical tests. Nevil Shute (1899-1960) was born in Middlesex, England. The author’s full name: Nevil Shute Norway

On the beach by nevil shute