Coward on the Beach
Dick Coward might be a coward by name but not by nature. He is a bona fide hero; unfortunately, no one else sees it that way. Every heroic deed he commits seems destined for misinterpretation and denigration, which is a problem because Coward’s father has decreed that the family estate will be inherited by whichever of his sons acquits themselves with the most credit on the battlefield. To date, Dick’s awful brother, James, is leading the race.
Volume I of this adventure sees Coward on the Normandy Beaches, outnumbered and apparently destined for death and honour or life and disgrace. With the help of his put-upon batman, Price, Dick struggles to stay alive and ahead of the game.
To say that Coward is a Second World War Flashman really seems to damn him with faint praise, because James Delingpole’s character is no mere pale imitation but a fully fleshed hero in his own right. Coward on the Beach is a great read, exciting, exuberant and perceptive.
