Nevil Shute: A Biography

by Julian Smith

Reprint. Originally Twayne Publishers, 1976.

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976

Reviews

[Roger Beaumont · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could be that my rating is more due to Shute than to Smith, but I enjoyed this book as much as I have enjoyed other (Auto)Biographies of Nevis Shute Norway

[Reader2007 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative!

[Leo W. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated this, for no other reason that it allowed me to compile a list of Shute books I've missed. But as biography, I found it a curious document. There are virtually no anecdotes that give insight into the man (other than those repeated from his own autobiography (which is restricted in scope to his relative youth), little to no insights from family members (aside from one comment by a daughter), co-workers, literary agents, etc. The biography is one in a series and one has the sense that the biographer just sat down after re-reading Shute's work and did a summary of each work, pointing out themes consistent with those views he was known to have.