On the Beach is a post-apocalyptic end-of-the-world novel written by the English novelist Nevil Shute. The novel is set some time after World War III has devastated the northern hemisphere, polluting the atmosphere with nuclear fallout, which is gradually being carried south by the global air currents. The only parts of the planet still habitable is the far south of the globe, specifically Australia and New Zealand, South Africa, and the southern parts of South America. Much of the novel's action takes place in Melbourne, as the farthest south part of the Australian mainland.
This novel belongs to the school of 'not with a bang but a whimper'...
It won several awards and has been filmed more than once, most lately as a mini-series.
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump