Now it, too, is dying, its shipyard, mine and rolling mills closed, its people half-starved and apathetic. Banking is Warren s life. He has no children and is in the midst of divorcing his wife. As head of one of the soundest little houses in the City, he has turned down proposal after proposal from cities determined to encourage job-creating enterprises that will keep people working. He knows nothing can be done for Sharples not by legitimate means, at any rate.
Warren returns to London, and step by tortuous step, pieces together a plan to revive the shipyard.
His name and reputation carry the plan so far and then no farther. Determined to see it through, he takes a drastic next step alone. First ten men are taken on, then 200, eventually 2,000, and gradually the city returns to noisy, polluted life. Ruined City is undoubtedly one of the best of all Nevil Shute s works, an example of individual can do on a grand scale. The scenes of Balkan nightlife are immensely entertaining, the British diplomatic reactions predictably and deliciously stodgy.