What Happened to the Corbetts
by Nevil Shute
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Nevil Shute wrote this prophetic novel just before the start of the Second World War. In it he describes the devastation that results from an aerial bomb attack on Southampton that destroys the city's infrastructure and leaves the inhabitants at the mercy of cholera and further assaults. The story follows the trials and tribulations of the Corbett family as they try to get to safety.Tags
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What Happened to the Corbetts - Nevil Shute ****
Shute has to be one of my favourite authors and I have loved his works ever since stumbling across a copy of ‘On the Beach’ a few years back. I believe he wrote around 23 novels so I have been rationing myself and reading 2 – 3 a year. He seems to be fairly overlooked today which is a real shame, it is true that the books may seem a little dated but they still carry many messages and character traits that are equally as relevant today.
Written in 1938 the book is how Shute imagines the country will look after the outbreak of war and the struggles that will be faced. In order to detail this he introduces us to the Corbett family, as usual with the characters in a Shute book they tend show more to be middle class professionals and here we have no exceptions. Peter is a young solicitor whose wife stays at home with the children, one morning he wakes to discover that an air raid has taken place over Southampton, caught unaware he and his young family must first make sense of the attack and the damages caused, and then prepare for any further assaults. The bombings keep coming and soon the after effects are felt when fresh water and food stores run low. Eventually their lives become further endangered, and not just from the physical bombardments, but an outbreak of cholera forces Peter to take drastic action. A keen sailor he has a small private boat that he uses for holidaying around the British coast, using his knowledge he decides the safest way to safety is upon the open sea. But just what hardships will this decision throw in his way? Full of the horrors of war and the harsh reality of how a civilian’s life is turned upside down in an effort to protect those he loves.
Shute is one of those authors that has the ability to draw me into a bygone world, one where the men are men and still have manners, just like you imagined your grandparents lived (although they more than likely didn’t). Even the bad guys in his books tend to have decency about them. There is never any sex or swearing just for the shock factor and you get the feeling that he really wanted you to care about his characters and what becomes of them. The other aspect of this book is how much of it was to become a reality and although he looked at the worst possible scenarios, there really was the possibility that events could have turned out the way described. There is even evidence to support that the publishing of this book spurred both government and councils to revaluate the measures already implemented for the outbreak of war.
Although it doesn’t stand up as well to some of his later works, this is still a brilliant read. If it were written by anyone else I would give 5 stars, but when compared to Shute classics such as A Town Like Alice, it can only really be given a 4. show less
Shute has to be one of my favourite authors and I have loved his works ever since stumbling across a copy of ‘On the Beach’ a few years back. I believe he wrote around 23 novels so I have been rationing myself and reading 2 – 3 a year. He seems to be fairly overlooked today which is a real shame, it is true that the books may seem a little dated but they still carry many messages and character traits that are equally as relevant today.
Written in 1938 the book is how Shute imagines the country will look after the outbreak of war and the struggles that will be faced. In order to detail this he introduces us to the Corbett family, as usual with the characters in a Shute book they tend show more to be middle class professionals and here we have no exceptions. Peter is a young solicitor whose wife stays at home with the children, one morning he wakes to discover that an air raid has taken place over Southampton, caught unaware he and his young family must first make sense of the attack and the damages caused, and then prepare for any further assaults. The bombings keep coming and soon the after effects are felt when fresh water and food stores run low. Eventually their lives become further endangered, and not just from the physical bombardments, but an outbreak of cholera forces Peter to take drastic action. A keen sailor he has a small private boat that he uses for holidaying around the British coast, using his knowledge he decides the safest way to safety is upon the open sea. But just what hardships will this decision throw in his way? Full of the horrors of war and the harsh reality of how a civilian’s life is turned upside down in an effort to protect those he loves.
Shute is one of those authors that has the ability to draw me into a bygone world, one where the men are men and still have manners, just like you imagined your grandparents lived (although they more than likely didn’t). Even the bad guys in his books tend to have decency about them. There is never any sex or swearing just for the shock factor and you get the feeling that he really wanted you to care about his characters and what becomes of them. The other aspect of this book is how much of it was to become a reality and although he looked at the worst possible scenarios, there really was the possibility that events could have turned out the way described. There is even evidence to support that the publishing of this book spurred both government and councils to revaluate the measures already implemented for the outbreak of war.
Although it doesn’t stand up as well to some of his later works, this is still a brilliant read. If it were written by anyone else I would give 5 stars, but when compared to Shute classics such as A Town Like Alice, it can only really be given a 4. show less
(7.5) There is something so soothing about a Nevil Shute novel. He creates such a clear picture of a time and place in English history. This novel was written in 1938 in an attempt to prepare the people of England for impending war. He imagines what it would be like to be subjected to continuous bombing raids and the resulting impact on every day life.
Peter and Joan Corbett and their three young children are forced to leave their home and retreat to their small yacht for safety from the nightly air raid attacks and the threat of cholera and typhoid. They set off on an adventure around the English coast.
My annual Nevil shute read never fails to satisfy and return this reader to a time that can only be revisited in books.
Peter and Joan Corbett and their three young children are forced to leave their home and retreat to their small yacht for safety from the nightly air raid attacks and the threat of cholera and typhoid. They set off on an adventure around the English coast.
My annual Nevil shute read never fails to satisfy and return this reader to a time that can only be revisited in books.
Another gem by Nevil Shute. The Corbetts are a normal English family—father, mother, two small children and a baby, living in a small house with a lovely garden—who find themselves scuttling to their garage for safety against a surprise bomb raid on their city. After the bomb raids continue, but only on cloudy nights, they decide to escape for safety to their small yacht, with hopes of eventually making it to safety in Canada.
The suddenness of the bomb raids pretty much destroys normal modes of communication—newspapers and radios—so no one much knows what's going on. Essential goods, gasoline, milk, bread, become scarce. Some kind of medical epidemic appears, perhaps; no one knows how virulent or wide spread. Thus everyone is show more left to speculate as to how best to protect themselves and their loved ones. They don't really know who the "enemy" is (never called out in the book) or why he suddenly began a random bombing campaign. People are pretty much forced to live day by day, making out as best they can. This story tells how the Corbetts themselves did that. Quite a nice story.
It was written shortly before World War II broke out, so is a bit prophetic it would seem. Certainly terrorist bombing of civilians became common in WWII, both in the German's regular air raids over London, and in our own flying over Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, .... Now, we're more sophisticated, we have drones do our terrorism for us. No real people involved. show less
The suddenness of the bomb raids pretty much destroys normal modes of communication—newspapers and radios—so no one much knows what's going on. Essential goods, gasoline, milk, bread, become scarce. Some kind of medical epidemic appears, perhaps; no one knows how virulent or wide spread. Thus everyone is show more left to speculate as to how best to protect themselves and their loved ones. They don't really know who the "enemy" is (never called out in the book) or why he suddenly began a random bombing campaign. People are pretty much forced to live day by day, making out as best they can. This story tells how the Corbetts themselves did that. Quite a nice story.
It was written shortly before World War II broke out, so is a bit prophetic it would seem. Certainly terrorist bombing of civilians became common in WWII, both in the German's regular air raids over London, and in our own flying over Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, .... Now, we're more sophisticated, we have drones do our terrorism for us. No real people involved. show less
Reads like historical fiction but it is not. The story takes place in a real setting but the background is fictional. Easy read as the author uses simple language and not-too-long sentences. More difficult would be the sailing jargon, which could be managed by skipping them. The ending touched me a little when Joan hurried Peter to join the naval crew upon sighting them at the port, rather than keeping Peter till they sailed. Parts of the book can be repetitive when the Corbetts faced the same challenges every day trying to decide what to do, and looking for essentials like milk. You feel like you have just read something similar.
What happened to the Corbetts is in a way a dystopian science fiction novel about the collapse of society after a catastrophic event. The writing style and atmosphere is similar to works of that period, its positively upbeat tone now feeling quite typical for that time.
It is a didactic novel, helpful to teach what to think of in case of such an event. This edition includes a preface written by the author explaining that the novel was written in 1938 when the reality of war with Nazi Germany was taking contours, and as an airman Shute rightly predicted that air raids would be an important part of an armed conflict. What happened to the Corbetts was published in 1939, five months before the outbreak of the war.
It is a didactic novel, helpful to teach what to think of in case of such an event. This edition includes a preface written by the author explaining that the novel was written in 1938 when the reality of war with Nazi Germany was taking contours, and as an airman Shute rightly predicted that air raids would be an important part of an armed conflict. What happened to the Corbetts was published in 1939, five months before the outbreak of the war.
This isn't one of his more stellar books, but it is interesting as it chronicles the vast changes taking place to communities as World War 2 progresses.
The original English title is WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CORBETTS. published 1938, forecasts the bombing of Southampton, UK.
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Nevil Shute Norway was born in Ealing, London, England, on January, 17 1899. At the age of 11, Norway played truant from his first preparatory school in Hammersmith. After he was discovered, he was sent to the Dragon School, Oxford, and from there to Shrewsbury. He was on holiday in Dublin at the time of the Easter rising of 1916 and acted as an show more ambulance driver, winning a commendation for gallant conduct. He then entered the Royal Military Academy, intending to be commissioned into the Royal Flying Corps, but a bad stammer led to his being failed at his final medical examination and returned to civil life. The last few months of the war were spent on home service as a private in the Suffolk Regiment. In 1919, Norway went to Balliol College, Oxford, where he took a third class honors course in engineering science in 1922. During the vacations he worked, unpaid, as an aeronautical engineer, for the Aircraft Manufacturing Company at Hendon, and then for Geoffrey de Havilland's own firm, which he joined as an employee upon finishing at Oxford. He learned to fly and gained experience as a test observer. During the evenings he diligently wrote novels and short stories unperturbed by rejection slips from publishers. In 1924 Norway took the post of Chief Calculator to the Airship Guarantee Company, to work on the construction of the R100. In 1929 he became Deputy Chief Engineer under Barnes Wallis, and in the following year he flew to and from Canada in the R100. After the end of the airship project, jobs were hard to come by due to the depression so Shute started an aircraft manufacturing company, Airspeed Limited. This company was ultimately successful and built a large number of aircraft during the war. Shute remained joint managing director until 1938. When the business became too routine, he decided to get out of the rut and live by writing. The de Havillands, the first aviation job Shute had ever had, wound up buying Airspeed Ltd. He had by then enjoyed some success as a novelist and had sold the film rights of Lonely Road and Ruined City. At the outbreak of war in 1939, Norway joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as a Sub-Lieutenant in the Miscellaneous Weapons Department. Rising to Lieutenant Commander, he found experimenting with secret weapons a job after his own heart. But he found that his growing celebrity as a writer caused him to be in the Normandy landings on 6th June 1944, for the Ministry of Information, and to be sent to Burma as a correspondent in 1945. He entered Rangoon with the 15th Corps from Arakan. Soon after demobilisation in 1945 he emigrated to Australia and made his home in Langwarrin, Victoria. His output of novels, which began with Marazan (1926) continued to the end. Shute was one of the leading aeronautical engineers in Britain during the 30's and a fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. When he began writing in the 20's, he feared that a reputation as a writer of fiction might harm his engineering career. For this reason he published under his two Christian names, Nevil Shute and engineered under his "real" name, Nevil S. Norway. Nevil Shute Norway died in Melbourne on January, 12 1960. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Is contained in
Common Knowledge
- Original title
- What Happened to the Corbetts
- Alternate titles
- Ordeal
- Original publication date
- 1939
- People/Characters
- Peter Corbett
- Important places
- Southampton, England, UK
- Epigraph
- Good luck have though with thine honour; ride on, because of the word of truth, of meekness, and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things.
-Psalm 45 - First words
- Towards dawn Peter Corbett got up from the garage floor and, treading softly, moved into the driving seat of the saloon.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)[Preface] In this edition I have retained the Author's Note printed at the end of the book, because it seems to me to be of some historic interest.
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Corbett said" 'I've got rid of my wife and family. I came to see if I could still have that commission, sir.'
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)[Epilogue] If I have held your attention for an evening, if I have given to the least of your officials one new idea to ponder and digest, then I shall feel that this book will have played a part in preparing us for the terrible things that you, and I, and all the citizens of all the cities in this country, may one day have to face together. - Original language
- English
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