Today (27th January 2016) is the centenary of The Military Service Act.  The Act included a special clause, drafted by Quakers, which for the first time allowed exemption to military service on the grounds of conscience, and thousands of men applied.

Tom Wall's The Coward, Conscience on trial, highlights the issue from the Second World War.

 

Frail and disillusioned, Bill Rowe languishes in a prison cell. As the Luftwaffe pass overhead, he relives his journey from a basement in Gateshead to a tribunal in London tasked with examining and judging that most private and intimate of things: conscience. But will he die a coward or will he find the strength to confront his past?

"Wall’s inspiring novel of an incredibly brave man's resistance during the Second World War resounds powerfully with our times. Scarred by wars, means-testing, broken promises and poverty, The Coward tells the story of Bill Rowe’s political awakening in 1930s Britain and his courageous stand against the so-called People’s War. Beautifully told The Coward speaks of a world hideously deformed by the rich in wars fought by the poor. Even the loneliest resistance of the novel's hero transforms the story into an exceptionally vital and vivid parable for today." - Leo Zeilig, author of Eddie the Kid

"The themes of The Coward remain as pertinent today as they were 70 years ago. It remains just as difficult to find the path of conscience when we are faced with wars that are little more than the squabbles of rich men."  - Milan Rai, Peace News co-editor and author

Tom Wall is a journalist living in London. This is his first novel.

 

Buy Now: AMAZON US AMAZON UK HIVE INDIEBOUND

 

 

 

 

Categories:

0 comments on this article

This thread has been closed from taking new comments.