On the Beach

Finished August 29
On the Beach by Nevil Shute

I picked this up in the general store waiting for the ferry to Thetis Island and found it a fascinating read. First published in 1957, the novel is set in 1963, a year after the end of a short but terrible war. Over the first few pages, the reader learns of the extent of the war. It would appear that the war started with Albania, turned into an Israeli-Arab war, then a Russo-NATO war, then a Russo-Chinese war, and involved many nuclear weapons including cobalt bombs. Most of the northern hemisphere seems to be affected as no one responds to contacts the surviving American ships try to make. The ships' most senior officer gave the order to sail into Australian waters and place themselves under Australian command.
The main characters are mostly Australian, beginning with Peter Holmes, a Lieutenant Commander with the Royal Australian Navy and his wife of two years Mary. They have an infant daughter, Jennifer.
An American atomic-powered submarine, the U.S.S. Scorpion, survived the war and is now in Melbourne harbour, and in early 1963 Peter is asked to join it as a liaison officer. The captain of the Scorpion is Commander Dwight Towers, also a fairly young man, with a wife and two children back home in the US.
The reader gradually learns of the situation, the fuel shortage, the radioactive dust moving in the atmosphere, the expectations for the future. We see into the lives of Peter and his family, Dwight, and the young Australian woman Moira Davidson that the Holmes invite to help entertain the American when he visits the family on shore leave. We also see the young scientist John Osborne, a radiation specialist assigned to the submarine, and learn of his dreams.
Everyone had a life they were in the middle of living and we see how they adjusted to their new reality, how they changed as time went on, and the truth began to sink in.
In this time of war rhetoric and unstable leaders, it didn't seem like that outlandish a plot.

Anomaly

Finished March 12
Anomaly by Krista McGee

This novel is a meld of science fiction and Christian fiction. Thalli is the third generation of humans born after a nuclear war in an underground bunker community. She is part of a group her own age, and has been bred to have a role, that of Musician. She has trained from her first memories to learn music to entertain her peers to motivate them as they work. She has seen what happens when someone has a physical weakness, but she is aware that she has a mental weakness and must be careful to control her curiosity and thwarting of rules to guard against being removed.
When she is tested with a piece of music and cannot control her emotions, her worst fears seem to be realized. When she awakens, a elderly man, John, is with her and she begins a friendship, one that teaches her about the world before and about faith. As she is tested further, she also has the time to learn more about Christian faith from John, and prepare herself for what awaits her.
This is a novel of science versus hope, about the stifling of feelings, and about the reemergence of faith despite the controls.
An interesting premise on a dystopian future.