PENGUIN MODERN CLASSICS : THE COWARDS PB B FORMAT – JOSEF SKVORECKY

The Cowards (1958) is Josef Skvorecky s blackly comic tale of post-war politics that was immediately banned on publication. In 1945, in Kostelec,Danny is playing saxophone for the best jazz band in Czechoslovakia. Their trumpeter has just got out of a concentration camp, their bass player is only allowed in the band since he owns the bass, and the love of Danny s life is in love with somebody else. But Danny despairs most about the bourgeoisie patriots in his town playing at revolution in the face of the approaching Red Army – not least because it ruins the band s chance of any good gigs.