Book description
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY JOHN BOYNE
John Howard is determined to brighten up his old age by taking a
fishing trip to France. However, during his stay the Nazis invade and
he is forced to try to escape back to England with the two small
children of some friends who are forced to stay behind in order to
help the Allied war effort. As the conflict grows closer the roads
become impassable and Howard also comes across five more children who
need his help. He ends up leading this motley group of youngsters
through the French countryside, constantly beset by danger yet
heroically protecting his charges.
Nevil Shute Norway was born on 17 January 1899 in Ealing, London.
After attending the Dragon School and Shrewsbury School, he studied
Engineering Science at Balliol College, Oxford. He worked as an
aeronautical engineer and published his first novel,
Marazan
, in 1926. In 1931 he married Frances Mary Heaton and they went on to
have 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 on 12 January 1960. His most celebrated novels include
Pied Piper
(1942),
No Highway
(1948),
A Town Like Alice
(1950) and
On the Beach
(1957).
