num_pages: 416
description: Girls, jazz, politics, the golden dreams and black comedy of youth--these are the compelling ingredients of The Cowards.May 1945, a small town in Czechoslovakia.  The Germans are withdrawing.  The Red Army is advancing.  And Danny Smiricky is being forced to grow up fast.  Observing with contempt the antics of the town's citizens playing it safe, he adopts the role first of reluctant conscript, then of dashing partisan.The Cowards is the story of an uncomplicated, talented youth caught up in momentous historic events who refuses to be bored to death by politics--or to lie down and die without a fight.--
language: English
title: The Cowards
titlecomplete: The Cowards
genres: Fiction, Czech Literature, Historical Fiction, 20th Century, War, School, Novels, Read For School, World War II, Classics
ratings_count: 1248
series: Danny Smiřický
publisher: Penguin Books