Editing Nevil Shute (section)

== Literary career ==
Shute's first novel, ''[[Stephen Morris (novel)|Stephen Morris]]'', was written in 1923, but not published until 1961 (with its 1924 sequel, ''Pilotage'').

His first published novel was ''[[Marazan]]'', which came out in 1926. After that he averaged one novel every two years until the 1950s, with the exception of a six-year hiatus while he was establishing his own aircraft construction company, Airspeed Ltd. Sales of his books grew slowly with each novel, but he became much better known after the publication of his third to last book, ''[[On the Beach (novel)|On the Beach]]'', in 1957.

Shute's novels are written in a simple, highly readable style, with clearly delineated plot lines. Many of the stories are introduced by a narrator who is not a character in the story. The most common theme in Shute's novels is the [[dignity of work]], spanning all classes, whether a Spanish bar hostess in the Balkans (''[[Ruined City]]'') or a brilliant but unworldly [[boffin]] (''[[No Highway]]''). His novels are in three main clusters: early pre-war flying adventures; Second World War tales; and stories set in Australia.

Another recurrent theme is the bridging of social barriers such as class (''[[Lonely Road (novel)|Lonely Road]]'' and ''Landfall''), race (''[[The Chequer Board]]''), or religion (''[[Round the Bend (novel)|Round the Bend]]''). The Australian novels are individual hymns to that country, with subtle disparagement of the mores of the United States (''[[Beyond the Black Stump]]'') and overt antipathy towards the post-World War II socialist government of Shute's native Britain (''[[The Far Country (1952 novel)|The Far Country]]'' and ''[[In the Wet]]'').

Aviation and engineering provide the backdrop for many of Shute's novels. He identified how engineering, science, and design could improve human life and more than once used the anonymous epigram, "It has been said an engineer is a man who can do for ten shillings what any fool can do for a pound."{{sfn|Shute|1954|p=63}}

Several of Shute's novels explored the boundary between accepted science and rational belief, on the one hand, and [[mystical]] or [[paranormal]] possibilities, including [[reincarnation]], on the other hand. Shute did this by including elements of fantasy and science fiction in novels that were considered mainstream. They included [[Buddhist astrology]] and folk prophecy in ''The Chequer Board''; the effective use of a [[planchette]] in ''No Highway;'' a [[messiah]] figure in ''Round the Bend''; reincarnation, science fiction, and Aboriginal psychic powers in ''In the Wet.''

Twenty-four of his novels and novellas have been published. Many of his books have been adapted for the screen, including ''[[Lonely Road (novel)|Lonely Road]]'' in 1936; ''[[Landfall: A Channel Story]]'' in 1949; ''[[Pied Piper (novel)|Pied Piper]]'' in 1942 and again in 1959, and also as ''Crossing to Freedom,'' a CBS [[made-for-television]] movie, in 1990; ''[[On the Beach (1959 film)|On the Beach]]'' in 1959 and again in 2000  as a two-part miniseries; and ''[[No Highway]]'' in 1951. ''[[A Town Like Alice]]'' was adapted into a film in 1956, serialised for [[Australian television]] in 1981, and also broadcast on [[BBC Radio 2]] in 1997 starring [[Jason Connery]], [[Becky Hindley]], [[Bernard Hepton]] and [[Virginia McKenna]]. Shute's 1952 novel ''[[The Far Country (novel)|The Far Country]]'' was filmed for television as six one-hour episodes in 1972, and as a two-part [[miniseries]] in 1987.<ref>{{cite book|first = Scott|last = Murray|title = Australia on the small screen, 1970-1995: The complete guide to tele-features and mini-series|publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]|year = 1996|page = 193}}</ref>

[[Vintage Books]] reprinted all 23 of his books in 2009.<ref name="Telegraph London">{{cite news|last1=Hensher|first1=Philip|title=Nevil Shute: profile|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/6718768/Nevil-Shute-profile.html|access-date=12 April 2013|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|date=4 December 2009|location=London|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130602021929/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/6718768/Nevil-Shute-profile.html|archive-date=2 June 2013}}</ref>

Shute's final work was published more than 40 years after his death.  ''[[The Seafarers (novel)|The Seafarers]]'' was first drafted in 1946–47, rewritten, and then put aside. In 1948, Shute again rewrote it, changing the title to ''Blind Understanding,'' but he left the manuscript incomplete. According to Dan Telfair in the foreword of the 2002 edition, some of the themes in ''The Seafarers'' and ''Blind Understanding'' were used in Shute's 1955 novel ''[[Requiem for a Wren]]''.<ref>{{cite book|contributor-last = Telfair|contributor-first = Dan|contribution = Foreword|last = Shute|first = Nevil|title = The Seafarers|publisher = [[Paper Tiger Books]]|year = 2002|isbn = 9781889439327|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=fMgUPQAACAAJ|access-date = 23 July 2021|archive-date = 22 October 2023|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231022210403/https://books.google.com/books?id=fMgUPQAACAAJ|url-status = live}}</ref>