{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "slug": "on-the-beach",
  "title": "On the Beach",
  "author": "Nevil Shute",
  "language": "English",
  "spoilers": true,
  "characters": [
    {
      "name": "Peter Holmes",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "A lieutenant commander in the Royal Australian Navy and liaison officer aboard the U.S.S. Scorpion. He lives in Falmouth with his wife Mary and infant daughter Jennifer; after briefly recovering from radiation sickness, he secretly takes a death pill with Mary after giving Jennifer a lethal injection."
    },
    {
      "name": "Mary Holmes",
      "aliases": [
        "Mary"
      ],
      "description": "Peter Holmes’s wife, a naval officer’s daughter raised in Southsea, England. As radiation sickness worsens, she asks Peter to end her and Jennifer’s lives; she takes a death pill with him."
    },
    {
      "name": "Jennifer Holmes",
      "aliases": [
        "Jennifer"
      ],
      "description": "The infant daughter of Peter and Mary Holmes. She becomes gravely ill during the radiation outbreak, and Peter gives her a lethal injection at Mary’s request."
    },
    {
      "name": "Mr. Paul",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "A local farmer who supplies milk and cream to the Holmes family. He is married and has another baby on the way."
    },
    {
      "name": "The Second Naval Member",
      "aliases": [
        "Admiral Grimwade"
      ],
      "description": "An admiral in the Navy Department who assigns Peter Holmes to serve as liaison officer aboard the U.S.S. Scorpion."
    },
    {
      "name": "Dwight Lionel Towers",
      "aliases": [
        "Commander Towers",
        "Captain Towers",
        "Dwight"
      ],
      "description": "The U.S. Navy commander of the nuclear submarine U.S.S. Scorpion, whose crew took refuge in Australian waters after the war. Separated from his wife Sharon and their children in Connecticut, he grows close to Moira Davidson, then takes Scorpion out to sea to sink her."
    },
    {
      "name": "Mr. Farrell",
      "aliases": [
        "Lieutenant Commander Farrell"
      ],
      "description": "The executive officer aboard the U.S.S. Scorpion."
    },
    {
      "name": "Mr. Lundgren",
      "aliases": [
        "Lieutenant Commander Lundgren",
        "Commander Lundgren"
      ],
      "description": "The engineering officer aboard the U.S.S. Scorpion, responsible for its nuclear-powered machinery."
    },
    {
      "name": "Mr. Benson",
      "aliases": [
        "Lieutenant Benson"
      ],
      "description": "An officer aboard the U.S.S. Scorpion who stands watch and makes a radio call to the shore at Edmonds."
    },
    {
      "name": "Mr. O’Doherty",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "An officer aboard the U.S.S. Scorpion."
    },
    {
      "name": "Mr. Hirsch",
      "aliases": [
        "Lieutenant Hirsch"
      ],
      "description": "An officer aboard the U.S.S. Scorpion who reports that Yeoman Swain escaped through the hatch and later spots his fishing boat."
    },
    {
      "name": "Captain Shaw",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "A senior U.S. Navy officer in Brisbane, whose ship cannot move and who may send orders to Dwight Towers."
    },
    {
      "name": "Captain Nixon",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "An officer in the Navy Department’s Operations Division who asked Commander Towers how long a proposed cruise would take."
    },
    {
      "name": "Moira Davidson",
      "aliases": [
        "Miss Davidson",
        "Moira"
      ],
      "description": "A young woman from a grazing property near Berwick and a friend of the Holmeses. She gives up drinking and grows close to Dwight Towers while accepting his devotion to his wife and children; as radiation sickness advances, she visits him before Scorpion’s final voyage, then takes a death pill while waiting near the sea."
    },
    {
      "name": "Sharon Towers",
      "aliases": [
        "Sharon"
      ],
      "description": "Dwight Towers’s wife, who remains in Connecticut with their children while he is away. Dwight imagines returning to her and tells Moira he will describe how she helped him remain faithful."
    },
    {
      "name": "Junior Towers",
      "aliases": [
        "Junior"
      ],
      "description": "Dwight and Sharon Towers’s son, mentioned while Dwight imagines returning to his family. Dwight buys him a fishing rod as a present."
    },
    {
      "name": "Helen Towers",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "Dwight and Sharon Towers’s young daughter. Moira finds a Pogo stick labeled with Helen’s name for Dwight to give her."
    },
    {
      "name": "R.A.F. squadron leader",
      "aliases": [
        "the squadron leader"
      ],
      "description": "An unnamed Royal Air Force officer who previously visited the Holmeses and cried during the visit."
    },
    {
      "name": "Moira Davidson’s father",
      "aliases": [
        "Daddy",
        "Mr. Davidson",
        "the grazier",
        "Bill Davidson"
      ],
      "description": "A grazier who owns a roughly five-hundred-acre farm near Berwick and is Moira Davidson’s father. He raises Angus cattle and sheep, works on his fences as the radiation approaches, lends Moira and Dwight his Ford for their fishing trip, and is gravely ill near the end."
    },
    {
      "name": "Mary’s father",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "An unnamed naval officer who was Mary Holmes’s father."
    },
    {
      "name": "John Seymour Osborne",
      "aliases": [
        "Mr. J. S. Osborne",
        "John Osborne",
        "Honest John"
      ],
      "description": "An Australian scientific officer from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, assigned to the U.S.S. Scorpion to monitor radioactivity. Related to Moira Davidson and Sir Douglas Froude’s great-nephew, he races his Ferrari and wins the Grand Prix; as radiation sickness takes hold, he prepares his car for storage and takes a death pill in its driving seat."
    },
    {
      "name": "Lieutenant Commander Isaac(s)",
      "aliases": [
        "Isaacs"
      ],
      "description": "An Australian officer serving aboard the U.S.S. Scorpion."
    },
    {
      "name": "Holman",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "An Australian officer serving aboard the U.S.S. Scorpion."
    },
    {
      "name": "de Vries",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "An Australian officer serving aboard the U.S.S. Scorpion."
    },
    {
      "name": "Chief of the Boat Mortimer",
      "aliases": [
        "Mortimer"
      ],
      "description": "The U.S.S. Scorpion’s chief of the boat. He swims after Yeoman Swain when Swain escapes to shore."
    },
    {
      "name": "Vice Admiral Sir David Hartman",
      "aliases": [
        "Sir David Hartman",
        "the First Naval Member"
      ],
      "description": "The First Naval Member, a senior Australian naval officer who briefs Dwight Towers and Peter Holmes and receives their cruise report. He convenes a conference about the cruise, lives near the Davidson family, and formally releases Towers to take Scorpion out of Australian waters."
    },
    {
      "name": "Anne Sutherland",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "A woman whose party Moira Davidson considers skipping to visit Dwight Towers."
    },
    {
      "name": "Johnny Dismore",
      "aliases": [
        "the captain of Swordfish",
        "Captain of the Swordfish"
      ],
      "description": "The captain of the U.S.S. Swordfish, a sister submarine to Scorpion; his report describes its postwar cruise through the Northern Hemisphere."
    },
    {
      "name": "Mr. Donald Ritchie",
      "aliases": [
        "the Prime Minister",
        "your Mr. Ritchie"
      ],
      "description": "The Prime Minister of Australia, who briefs the Scorpion’s commander on the cruise and forbids the crew from taking anyone aboard without permission."
    },
    {
      "name": "Dr. Halloran",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "The Holmes family’s doctor, whom Mary consults about the risk of Jennifer catching measles."
    },
    {
      "name": "Mrs. Foster",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "A neighbor of the Holmeses who is asked by Mary to bring steak and onions from town."
    },
    {
      "name": "Surgeon Commander",
      "aliases": [
        "the surgeon commander"
      ],
      "description": "An unnamed medical officer Peter Holmes considers consulting about measles in babies."
    },
    {
      "name": "Principal Scientific Officer",
      "aliases": [
        "the Principal Scientific Officer",
        "P.S.O."
      ],
      "description": "An unnamed senior scientific officer who attends a Navy Department meeting with Peter Holmes and John Osborne."
    },
    {
      "name": "Sir Douglas Froude",
      "aliases": [
        "Douglas Froude",
        "Lieutenant General"
      ],
      "description": "John Osborne’s great-uncle, a retired army commander who lives on a small property near Macedon, studies Australian birds, and is still trying to write his memoirs. He belongs to a club with a large cellar of vintage port, which he drinks regularly; as radiation sickness spreads, he remains convinced that he is well, while staying at the club after his sister’s death."
    },
    {
      "name": "Intelligence officer",
      "aliases": [
        "the guy from Intelligence",
        "this officer from the Pentagon"
      ],
      "description": "An unnamed officer who briefed Dwight Towers’s commanding officers’ course about the strategic tensions between Russia and China before the war."
    },
    {
      "name": "Major Chan Sze Lin",
      "aliases": [
        "Chan Sze Lin"
      ],
      "description": "An officer in the Chinese Air Force who seems to have commanded Chinese forces late in the war and controlled rockets and bombs. The Australian Prime Minister tried to contact him to stop the fighting."
    },
    {
      "name": "Black dog at Cairns",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "A large dog seen barking at the U.S.S. Scorpion from a wharf in Cairns; apparently the only living creature there."
    },
    {
      "name": "Moira Davidson’s mother",
      "aliases": [
        "Mummy",
        "Mrs. Davidson"
      ],
      "description": "An unnamed woman who lives on the Davidson farm and is Moira’s mother. She hopes Moira will marry and have children; near the end she is gravely ill with radiation sickness."
    },
    {
      "name": "Moira Davidson’s brother",
      "aliases": [
        "Donald"
      ],
      "description": "Moira Davidson’s older brother, who is in England."
    },
    {
      "name": "Lou",
      "aliases": [
        "the farm hand"
      ],
      "description": "The only employee on the Davidson farm, who helps Moira with the horse and buggy."
    },
    {
      "name": "Professor Jorgensen",
      "aliases": [
        "Jorgensen"
      ],
      "description": "A scientist who argues that atmospheric radioactivity may diminish quickly after precipitation washes radioactive material from the air. His theory motivates the planned U.S.S. Scorpion cruise, though most scientists consider him overly optimistic."
    },
    {
      "name": "Moira Davidson’s former suitor",
      "aliases": [
        "the Forrest boy"
      ],
      "description": "An unnamed man who once stayed at the Davidson home before the war. Moira’s parents recall that she did not seem to care for him."
    },
    {
      "name": "Dwight Towers’s father",
      "aliases": [
        "Dad"
      ],
      "description": "An unnamed doctor in Westport, Connecticut, who served as a Navy surgeon during the First World War and later established a local practice."
    },
    {
      "name": "Sharon Towers’s father",
      "aliases": [
        "her Dad"
      ],
      "description": "An unnamed lawyer in New York City who has an apartment near Central Park and a summer home at Westport. He helped Dwight and Sharon financially when they married."
    },
    {
      "name": "Johnny Bowles",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "A man who bought and shipped a Ferrari racing car to Australia but never raced it because the war began. John Osborne later bought the car from Bowles’s widow."
    },
    {
      "name": "Donezetti",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "A racing driver who won the Grand Prix of Syracuse in John Osborne’s Ferrari the year before the war."
    },
    {
      "name": "Mr. Goldie",
      "aliases": [
        "Goldie",
        "the chemist"
      ],
      "description": "The chemist in Falmouth whom Peter Holmes knows and consults about radiation sickness. He secretly gives Peter dummy packages showing the death pills and injection that will later be distributed to people who request them."
    },
    {
      "name": "Lieutenant Sunderstrom",
      "aliases": [
        "the radio and electrical officer",
        "the radio officer",
        "the lieutenant"
      ],
      "description": "The U.S.S. Scorpion’s radio and electrical officer, familiar with the Santa Maria Island communications installation. He discovers that a fallen window frame has been activating a transmitter, sends a report confirming there is no life there, and later transmits a signal saying the crew is well."
    },
    {
      "name": "Sir Phillip Goodall",
      "aliases": [
        "the director of C.S.I.R.O.",
        "the director"
      ],
      "description": "The director of C.S.I.R.O. who presents the conference with a summary of radio transmissions monitored from the Seattle area."
    },
    {
      "name": "Third Naval Member",
      "aliases": [
        "the Third Naval Member"
      ],
      "description": "An unnamed senior naval officer whose office Peter visits; a Wran writer there says she is expecting Commander Mason."
    },
    {
      "name": "Secretary to the Prime Minister",
      "aliases": [
        "one of the Prime Minister’s secretaries"
      ],
      "description": "An unnamed secretary to the Australian Prime Minister who attends the conference about the Scorpion’s cruise."
    },
    {
      "name": "Ralph Swain",
      "aliases": [
        "Yeoman First Class Ralph Swain",
        "Yeoman Swain",
        "Ralphie",
        "Swain"
      ],
      "description": "A Yeoman First Class and radar operator aboard the U.S.S. Scorpion. He escapes through the submarine’s hatch to return to Edmonds, where he finds his family and girlfriend dead; he spends his final day fishing and declines the captain’s offer of an automatic."
    },
    {
      "name": "Ken Puglia",
      "aliases": [
        "Ken"
      ],
      "description": "An Edmonds drugstore owner, known personally to Ralph Swain. Swain sees that his store is open and its neon sign is still lit."
    },
    {
      "name": "Mrs. Sullivan",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "An Edmonds resident whose house Swain sees through the submarine’s periscope; one of its windows is broken."
    },
    {
      "name": "Hector Fraser’s wife",
      "aliases": [
        "Mrs. Hector Fraser"
      ],
      "description": "A woman who has known Moira Davidson since childhood. She tells Moira that Dwight Towers tried to buy a Pogo stick and speculates about whom he is courting."
    },
    {
      "name": "The jeweller’s assistant",
      "aliases": [
        "Mr. Thompson",
        "the fair-haired one"
      ],
      "description": "A young man at Simmonds’ jeweller who sells Dwight Towers an emerald-and-diamond bracelet and cannot direct him to a shop with Pogo sticks."
    },
    {
      "name": "Ralph Swain’s father",
      "aliases": [
        "Dad"
      ],
      "description": "An unnamed man in Edmonds, Ralph Swain’s father. Ralph finds him dead in bed after returning home."
    },
    {
      "name": "Ralph Swain’s mother",
      "aliases": [
        "Mom"
      ],
      "description": "An unnamed woman in Edmonds, Ralph Swain’s mother. Ralph finds her dead in bed after returning home."
    },
    {
      "name": "Ralph Swain’s girlfriend",
      "aliases": [
        "the girl"
      ],
      "description": "An unnamed woman from Ralph Swain’s hometown of Edmonds, whom he visits after returning from the submarine. He finds her dead."
    },
    {
      "name": "Commander Peterson",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "An Australian naval commander who phones Mary Holmes with news of the Scorpion’s radio signal and is the contact she considers asking about its estimated arrival."
    },
    {
      "name": "Lieutenant Brody",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "An officer aboard the U.S.S. Scorpion who develops symptoms resembling acute appendicitis during the cruise; they subside, and Peter Holmes takes over his duties."
    },
    {
      "name": "Jerry Shaw",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "The outgoing commanding officer of U.S. Naval Forces in Brisbane. Before communications cease, he orders Dwight Towers to assume command of U.S. naval forces in all areas."
    },
    {
      "name": "The doctor at Harkaway",
      "aliases": [
        "the doctor"
      ],
      "description": "An unnamed local doctor called to examine Dwight Towers when he develops a fever after the cruise. He diagnoses flu, advises rest, and travels in the rain to an operation at the hospital."
    },
    {
      "name": "The woman with a stomach growth",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "An unnamed patient whom the Harkaway doctor plans to operate on, hoping the operation will give her more years of useful life."
    },
    {
      "name": "Mr. Alan Sykes",
      "aliases": [
        "Alan Sykes",
        "Mr. Sykes"
      ],
      "description": "The director of the State Fisheries and Game Department. He consults Sir Douglas Froude about an early trout season and drafts the announcement advancing it."
    },
    {
      "name": "The Minister",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "An unnamed minister whom Moira Davidson approaches about opening the trout season early; he supports the proposal, which Mr. Sykes says may reflect election concerns."
    },
    {
      "name": "Leading Seaman Edgar",
      "aliases": [
        "Edgar"
      ],
      "description": "A leading seaman assigned to drive the grey Chevrolet provided for Dwight Towers."
    },
    {
      "name": "Peter Holmes’s landlord",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "An unnamed landlord who owns a Holden and retained some petrol for cleaning clothes."
    },
    {
      "name": "Peter Holmes’s R.A.F. cousin",
      "aliases": [
        "Bill"
      ],
      "description": "An unnamed cousin of Peter Holmes who serves in the Royal Australian Air Force at Laverton Aerodrome. He visits in an M.G. and is described as someone who never saved anything."
    },
    {
      "name": "The Shell refinery engineer",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "An unnamed engineer at the Shell refinery at Corio who says he bought petrol on the black market in Fitzroy."
    },
    {
      "name": "Miss Fay Gordon",
      "aliases": [
        "Fay Gordon"
      ],
      "description": "A woman racing driver who competes in an M.G. in the first heat at Tooradin. Her car leaves the wet track at Lake Bend and overturns in the water; the rescuers recover her body."
    },
    {
      "name": "Sam Bailey",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "A young air mechanic who builds and races a fast Lotus powered by a Gipsy Queen aeroengine. He wins a Grand Prix heat but crashes during the race."
    },
    {
      "name": "Jerry Collins",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "A driver who pilots a three-litre Maserati in an elimination heat against John Osborne."
    },
    {
      "name": "Don Harrison",
      "aliases": [
        "the driver of a Jaguar"
      ],
      "description": "A Jaguar driver in John Osborne’s heat who offers him a drink before the race. He dies from injuries after a crash, and his wife gives Osborne permission to use Don’s transporter and parts from the wrecked Jaguar."
    },
    {
      "name": "Mrs. Harrison",
      "aliases": [
        "Don Harrison’s wife"
      ],
      "description": "Don Harrison’s wife, present at the race after his fatal crash. She accepts his death as the kind of end he wanted and lets John Osborne use Don’s transporter and car parts."
    },
    {
      "name": "Eddie Brooks",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "A member of John Osborne’s Ferrari pit crew who accompanies him to speak with Don Harrison’s wife and helps recover usable parts from wrecked cars."
    },
    {
      "name": "Commander Mason",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "An officer whom the Wran writer expects to arrive aboard the aircraft carrier for business in the Third Naval Member’s office."
    },
    {
      "name": "The Ferrari mechanic",
      "aliases": [
        "the mechanic"
      ],
      "description": "An unnamed mechanic working with John Osborne on repairs to the Ferrari."
    },
    {
      "name": "Bill Adams",
      "aliases": [
        "Bill"
      ],
      "description": "A Goodyear employee who helps John Osborne fit new tires to the Ferrari’s wheels."
    },
    {
      "name": "Jamieson hotel landlady",
      "aliases": [
        "the landlady"
      ],
      "description": "The landlady of the crowded hotel in Jamieson, delighted by the return of fishermen after two quiet years."
    },
    {
      "name": "Night-fishing angler",
      "aliases": [
        "the earnest fisherman"
      ],
      "description": "An unnamed fisherman staying at the Jamieson hotel who targets a large fish at night and gives Moira and Dwight a small fly spoon that helps Moira catch a fish."
    },
    {
      "name": "Frog-bait angler",
      "aliases": [
        "the companion fisherman"
      ],
      "description": "An unnamed fisherman at the Jamieson hotel who describes fishing for trout with a frog as bait."
    },
    {
      "name": "John Osborne’s mother",
      "aliases": [
        "Mum",
        "Mother"
      ],
      "description": "John Osborne’s elderly mother, who falls ill with radiation sickness after his Grand Prix win. She takes a death pill and leaves him a note asking him to care for her Pekinese."
    },
    {
      "name": "Dr. Hamilton",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "The doctor John Osborne calls for his sick mother. He diagnoses her illness as radiation sickness and says he is becoming sick himself."
    },
    {
      "name": "John Osborne’s secretary",
      "aliases": [
        "his secretary"
      ],
      "description": "An unnamed secretary at John Osborne’s office who writes that she is too unwell to return and thanks him for his kindness."
    },
    {
      "name": "Melbourne tram driver",
      "aliases": [
        "the driver"
      ],
      "description": "An unnamed tram driver who says he will keep working until he becomes sick, then drive the tram to his home depot."
    },
    {
      "name": "Chemist’s counter girl",
      "aliases": [
        "the girl behind the counter"
      ],
      "description": "An unnamed young woman at a Melbourne chemist who gives John Osborne a red carton of death pills and plans to take her own with an ice-cream soda."
    },
    {
      "name": "Ming",
      "aliases": [
        "little Ming",
        "the Pekinese"
      ],
      "description": "John Osborne’s mother’s Pekinese dog. After her death, John gives Ming a lethal dose of Nembutal so he will not be left alone."
    },
    {
      "name": "Collins the hall porter",
      "aliases": [
        "Collins"
      ],
      "description": "A hall porter at the club where Sir Douglas Froude is staying. He returns to work amid the outbreak and is to prepare lunch for Douglas and John Osborne."
    },
    {
      "name": "Tom Fotherington",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "A man who dined with Sir Douglas Froude at the club and said he would call the next morning; Douglas wonders whether he has fallen ill."
    },
    {
      "name": "Sir Douglas Froude’s sister",
      "aliases": [],
      "description": "An unnamed woman who kept house for Sir Douglas Froude at Macedon. She dies during the radiation outbreak, after which Douglas stays at his club."
    },
    {
      "name": "Woman at the dockyard",
      "aliases": [
        "one of the women"
      ],
      "description": "An unnamed woman among those at the dockyard as Dwight Towers departs in Scorpion. She tells Moira Davidson that she will not have to go on living."
    }
  ],
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