Description

A BBC TWO BETWEEN THE COVERS BOOK CLUB PICK

After a car accident Jarred discovers he’ll never walk again. Confined to a ‘giant roller-skate’, he finds himself with neither money nor job, a shoplifting habit, an addiction to painkillers and strangers treating him like he’s an idiot. Worse still, he’s forced to live back home with his estranged father.

Trying to piece himself together, Jarred comes to realise that things don’t have to stay broken after all. The Coward is about hurt and forgiveness, how the world treats disabled people, and how we write and rewrite the stories we tell ourselves about our lives – and try to find a happy ending.

Publisher Review

Sings from its first lines . . . unbearably poignant . . . a truly uplifting emotional journey; a tender, wise, brutally funny novel * * Guardian * * Written with insight and savage wit . . . it is uplifting because McGinnis is a realist who never tries to sweeten the bitter experience of learning to navigate life in a wheelchair. His characters are vivid and impossible to forget, and he has an underlying optimism about the various ways in which muddled lives shake down and settle into something better * * The Times * * This beautiful book is a testament to the way people can, in spite of everything, reforge shattered emotional bonds and repair seemingly doomed relationships. You won't find a more uplifting read in these dark times -- IRVINE WELSH Laceratingly funny, beautiful and true, true, true - right into its very human and very twisted heart. Read this book -- A.L. KENNEDY Visceral yet immensely witty . . . The sections describing the immediate aftermath of the crash are incredibly powerful * * Herald * * Both absolutely devastating and ridiculously funny, sometimes within the span of a single paragraph. You'll want to murder McGinnis' mouthy anti-hero and also take him out for several pints. A big-hearted, quick-witted sucker punch of a first novel; readers who like their brutal honesty with a side of hope are really going to love The Coward -- JAN CARSON Riotously funny . . . the book is also a testament to our ability to forgive * * Big Issue * * Efficient, bracing and bleakly comic * * New Statesman * * A raw and unflinching look at a broken father-son relationship. At times viscerally honest but always gripping as the difficult journey to redemption and hope takes place against a backdrop of addiction, recrimination and an emotionally troubled history. Jarred McGinnis finds truth and humour in the brutal honesty that makes for a compelling read -- MARK STRONG Brutal, tender, moving and funny. Life as a novel -- C.D. ROSE