What if the powerful countries of the world waged a nuclear war so catastrophic that all life was destroyed, and you were stuck in southern Australia, watching the deadly radiation move slowly, inexorably your way? That is the question posed by this classic post-apocalyptic novel. The inevitable conclusion is rather dreary. However, the characters seem a bit too 1950s, and therefore not quite realistic. Still, it’s an interesting, if bleak, what-if scenario.