
On the Beach
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Narrated by:
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Simon Prebble
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By:
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Nevil Shute
About this listen
A war no one fully understands has devastated the planet with radioactive fallout from massive cobalt bombing. Melbourne, Australia, is the only area whose citizens have not yet succumbed to the contamination. But there isn’t much time left, a few months, maybe more—and the citizens of Melbourne must decide how they will live the remaining weeks of their lives, and how they will face a hopeless future.
Published in 1957, On the Beach is considered a classic nuclear holocaust novel, and a masterpiece of speculative fiction.
©1957 Nevil Shute Norway (P)1991 Recorded Books, LLCListeners also enjoyed...
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The Fall
- Burning Skies Series, Book 1
- By: Devon C. Ford
- Narrated by: Neil Hellegers
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Cal's "honeymoon" didn't start off quite how he'd planned. For starters, he was heading somewhere he didn't actually want to go. And secondly, he was going alone and unmarried. He had no idea that his first visit to New York City would also land him in the middle of a domestic terror attack, forcing him to flee Manhattan in a desperate bid to survive. This was no ordinary terror attack. The Movement, in a misguided attempt to seize political control of the USA, unwittingly invited the destruction of their homeland.
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Damn good... even for an Englishman
- By LT Beale on 12-15-18
By: Devon C. Ford
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Earth Abides
- By: George R. Stewart
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 13 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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The cabin had always been a special retreat for Isherwood Williams, a haven from the demands of society. But one day while hiking, Ish was bitten by a rattlesnake, and the solitude he had so desired took on dire new significance. Ish headed home when he finally felt himself again—and noticed the strangeness almost immediately. No cars passed him on the road; the gas station not far from his cabin looked abandoned; and he was shocked to see the body of a man on the roadside near a small town. Without a radio or phone, Ish had no idea of humanity’s abrupt demise.
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The accolades are undeserved
- By 2duckornot2duck on 04-26-21
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The Lucky Prepper: A Gardener's Story of Surviving a Pandemic
- Lucky Prepper, Book 1
- By: Emma Zeth
- Narrated by: Esther Wane
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Zoe loves teaching science, she loves her garden, and most of all she loves her quiet, peaceful bungalow. Then at school, people start falling ill. The virus is airborne and highly infectious. It starts with flu symptoms, confusion, and sleepiness, which worsen until one day they just don't wake up. It decimates the population and leaves chaos in its wake. Now Zoe has to find a way to survive. Luckily, when the pandemic strikes, she already has a greenhouse full of vegetable seedlings, but not everyone around is as prepared.
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Not another dystopian novel....
- By Ian on 08-13-20
By: Emma Zeth
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Born
- Born Trilogy Series # 1
- By: AE Watson
- Narrated by: Amanda Dolan
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Trust no one. Pull the trigger. Hide. Run. Stay away from the other survivors. Stay away from the Infected. Emma has obeyed her father's rules since she can remember running from the car accident that claimed his life. But one night that all changes. The knock at her cabin door and the voice of the girl on the other side don't make Emma help the girl. No - it's the fact that the girl, Anna, is willing to die to save her wounded brother that changes everything in Emma's world.
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The romance crap is torture
- By Emily on 04-16-19
By: AE Watson
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Survive the Darkness
- Survive the Darkness, Book 1
- By: Ryan Casey
- Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
- Length: 5 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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It's New Year's Eve, and the world is about to change. Forever. Out of nowhere, a catastrophic EMP event cripples the nation's power supply. Cars spiral off the streets. Planes hurtle from the skies. And in the powerless confusion, it doesn't take long for terrified survivors to resort to violence. Max is working as a security guard in the city center when the power goes out. Surrounded by chaos, he knows he only has one choice: to get out of the city and get to the countryside. But will he make it out of a city that is rapidly collapsing?
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What the hell was that?
- By Terri on 03-09-25
By: Ryan Casey
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Ordeal
- By: Nevil Shute
- Narrated by: Ian Stuart
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Life in the Corbett family turned upside down when the first German bombs struck their well-ordered street. But life goes on through fire and destruction, life and love rising from the rubble of London and “the Blitz.”
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Absorbing!
- By Eileen on 02-12-12
By: Nevil Shute
What listeners say about On the Beach
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- KA
- 06-18-15
You won't be able to put this down
The characters and their lives are described realistically, with compassion, attention to detail, and even humor. The story could happen as easily today as when the story was set over 50 years ago. It will give you a new perspective on your own life as you realize we could share the same fate today if we don't take nuclear disarmament seriously.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Barry
- 12-21-16
Possibly the bleakest book ever
Yes, it is bleak, but most of the bleakness is below the surface. Human nature dictates that most people will attempt to go on with their lives as best they can. Shute never lets go of that tension between bleakness and everyday life, yet there is very little preachiness in his telling. The behavior of the people in this situation feels right for the most part. Shute attempts to account for the range of possible reactions while keeping his cast of characters to a manageable size. I think by and large the population would react with the vague sense of unreality that he describes. Modern studies of people's reactions to major natural disasters bear him out on this. There are some very human and touching moments such as Commander Towers looking for presents for his children.
Shute also avoids trying to explain too much about how the world got into the situation presented in the book. The why is unimportant. The 1959 movie struggled with both the issue of a backstory and the preachiness aspect. I sympathize with the film maker's need for the ending to make more of a statement. As a thought experiment, I think Shute makes the wiser choice of leaving it up to the reader to ponder.
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1 person found this helpful
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- AudioBookLover
- 04-21-16
Life's A Beach
Would you listen to On the Beach again? Why?
I might play it again.
What did you like best about this story?
When the girl's bra fell off.
What about Simon Prebble’s performance did you like?
He did a good job.
If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
If you only see one movie for the rest of your life....
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- Brandin
- 09-24-22
Nothing like it
Absolute must read.
I just finished it and honestly i don't have the heart to say more. Devastating but beautiful.
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- Scott A Kessler
- 01-21-25
Excellent story
An excellent and sad book about the end of humanity.
The narrator is good. WW3 is truly horrific.
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- Ryan
- 08-28-14
Enough about brandy!
Where does On the Beach rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
I saw the movie adaptation of this several years ago, and decided to read the book. The premise was interesting, and I liked the story. I just didn't love it, and at times, it was downright annoying.
What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?
The story takes place after a nuclear war, where the only the Southern hemisphere was spared. The radiation fallout is apparently moving South, and the scientists believe that everyone has six months to live.
The book follows several characters and how they choose to live out their remaining time. The characters were well developed, and I liked all of the story lines for the most part. By far, my favorite part of the book was the Australian Grand Prix, and the concept of an auto race where all of the participants have nothing to lose.
The problem I had with the story is that the author would dwell on certain topics, and it became annoying. One of the characters spent her time as an alcoholic, and every few minutes of her dialog would be about brandy, drinking brandy, going somewhere to drink brandy, etc.... It got old. The second idea that was overplayed was actually a pretty good concept, just overplayed to death. Many of the characters would make long term plans for things that would be years away, despite that they only have a short time to live. This denial seemed realistic, and I thought it was very clever the first couple of times it happened, but the author keeps dragging this concept to the forefront again and again, and after a while it got really old.
Overall, I liked the book, but I was really ready for it to be over by the end of the book. Well, a couple chapters before the end.
Any additional comments?
The narration was very good.
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4 people found this helpful
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- ebridge
- 01-03-20
Frightening but memorable.
Post-apocalyptic books are always thought-provoking. I find them interesting. And I really like the way that Nevil Shute writes his stories. I have read this one a couple times.
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- M. Sherman
- 03-27-19
Lessons for our time
I read this book many years ago and think about it whenever tensions escalate between super-powers. It is one of the most depressing book ever written. By our own hand, we could lose the wonderful gift that is this planet of ours. One thing leads to another; things get out of hand. It's so plausible that it almost seems inevitable. The narration captures well the somber story line.
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- Ken in Wisconsin
- 04-10-20
A true Classic
An amazing, yet completely depressing story. Having seen the Gregory Peck/Ava Gardner movie more than a dozen times since I was a kid, this was my first foray into the novel. It held my attention completely and if the ending does not have you in tears, then you have no Soul.
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- Elizabeth
- 07-22-15
Wonderful narration
Excellent and haunting performance. Simon Prebble does a masterful job with the narration--very enjoyable.
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