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Vanessa Gebbie

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The Coward's Tale Hardcover – 7 Nov. 2011

by Vanessa Gebbie (Author)

68 ratings

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The boy Laddy Merridew, sent to live with his grandmother, stumbles off the bus into a small Welsh mining community, where he begins an unlikely friendship with Ianto Passchendaele Jenkins, the town beggar-storyteller. Ianto is watchman over the legacy of the collapse many years ago of Kindly Light Pit, a disaster whose echoes reverberate down the generations of the town. Through Ianto's stories Laddy is drawn into both the town's history and the conundrums of the present.

Why has woodwork teacher Icarus Evans striven most of his life to carve wooden feathers that will float on an updraft? Why is the undertaker Tutt Bevan trying to find a straight path through the town? Why does James Little, the old gas-meter emptier, dig his allotment by moonlight? And why does window cleaner Judah Jones take autumn leaves into a disused chapel?

These and other men of the town, and the women who mothered them, married them and mourned them, are bound together by the echoes of the Kindly Light tragedy and by the mysterious figure of Ianto Jenkins, whose stories of loyalty and betrayal, loss and love, form an unforgettable, spellbinding tapestry.

The Coward's Tale is a powerfully imagined, poetic and haunting novel, spiked with humour. It is a story of kinship and kindness, guilt and atonement, and the ways in which we carve the present out of an unforgiving past.

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My novel of the year ... an extraordinarily lyrical, moving, funny evocation of a Welsh mining town and its inhabitants ... A terrific achievement (A.N. Wilson Financial Times BOOK OF THE YEAR)

This first novel is a gem ... A comparison might be made with Under Milk Wood - but even though I'm a Dylan Thomas fan, for me, Gebbie's understated anatomy of a Welsh town outsoars him. It's less whimsical, and at its heart is a gritty awareness of what's happened to this former mining community in the 21st century - with the interlocking tales building up into a poignant, unforgettable picture. This is a real writer - you'll be hearing a lot more of her (Reader's Digest)

Gebbie's prose has something of the musical rhythm and cadence of Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood. The lilting dialect is seductive and the poetic sweep through a town and its folk reminiscent of Jon McGregor's masterpiece, If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things. The poetry is unobtrusive but makes the characters live and breathe ... heartbreaking ... a hypnotic debut (Independent)

The unlikely but entirely legitimate child of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Dylan Thomas, The Coward's Tale invests everyday life with a quality at once whimsical and heroic (Charles Lambert)

Tender and gripping - a brilliantly written epic (Maggie Gee)

A rich seam of fables conjuring a community bound together by tragedy and secrets. Everyone knows something about someone but only one man knows everything about everyone. The Coward's own tale is the bravest of all (Damian Barr)

Compulsively readable. She writes with such warmth and kindness (Mari Strachan, author of The Earth Hums in B Flat)

Gebbie's voice catches Thomas's lyricism ... But it is Ianto's own history, tragically entangled with the colliery disaster which devastated the town two generations previously, that proves the most spellbinding (Guardian)

An absorbing portrait of love, grief and humanity ... Gebbie's first full-length novel is richly poetic, its landscape steeped in the Welsh landscape and the texture of the rain-washed street (Psychologies)

The Coward's Tale is a Russian doll of a book, layers within layers, histories, ghosts, superstitions and secrets. It shines a light through the material of human nature, our successes and failings, strengths and weaknesses, pride and vanity and love ... Timeless. Storytelling at its best (Salena Godden)

The tales are gripping, the language powerful and at times almost poetic ... This book is a human, thoughtful collection of a community's reaction to a tragedy which touched the lives and hearts of so many people ... The Coward's Tale is a must-read (Lifestyle)

Book Description

A dazzling first novel about kinship and kindness, guilt and atonement, and the ways in which we carve the present out of an unforgiving past

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date ‏ : ‎ 7 Nov. 2011
Edition ‏ : ‎ First Edition
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1408821567
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1408821565
Item weight ‏ : ‎ 520 g
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.5 x 3.1 x 21.6 cm
Best Sellers Rank: 3,194,349 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 56,275 in Contemporary Fiction (Books)
- 63,269 in Literary Fiction (Books)
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68 ratings

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Customers find this book engaging and beautifully written, with one review noting how it holds readers' attention through continuous storytelling. Moreover, the book features rich, lyrical language, and customers appreciate its depth and character development. Additionally, they praise its pacing, with one customer describing it as deeply moving, while another mentions how it helps readers see life afresh.

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Storytelling Lyricism Enjoyment Pacing Character development Depth

14 customers mention ‘Storytelling’14 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the storytelling in this book, finding it engaging and poignant, with one customer noting how it holds readers' attention through continuous narrative.

"An enjoyable read which is poignant and moving. A host of interesting characters set against a local historical tragedy. Recommended" Read more

"...Gebbie’s prose it does seem absolutely perfect and fitting for writing about traditions gone by and the culture of what was once a mining own...." Read more

"...This is a story about stories, woven like a great patterned shawl in which every thread is another story, playing its part in the whole...." Read more

"...is full of wit and whimsy, Gebbie's creation is deeper and more poignant, and will resonate far longer than de Bernieres still-beautiful book...." Read more

13 customers mention ‘Lyricism’13 positive0 negative

Customers praise the lyrical language of the book, describing it as beautifully written and poetic, with one customer noting its rich prose.

"...The prose is rich and poetic, the dialogue is just wonderful...." Read more

"Lyrical and richly descriptive, Vanessa Gebbie portrays the townsfolk of a Welsh mining village with affection and generosity, winding their tales..." Read more

"The Coward’s Tale is beautifully written and so definitely, deeply connected to the landscape and the country about which it is written...." Read more

"...conjuring the lilting Welsh voices of the townspeople through precisely rendered idiom; this is a book not so much to be read as to be entered, swum..." Read more

12 customers mention ‘Enjoyment’12 positive0 negative

Customers find the book delightful and incredible.

"...Despite the wonderful depth and lyrical quality of Gebbie’s novel, there is nothing twee about it...." Read more

"An enjoyable read which is poignant and moving. A host of interesting characters set against a local historical tragedy. Recommended" Read more

"...years - deserves to take a step into wider acknowledgement for this deft work." Read more

"...it was ok, quite lyrical but difficult to get going with...." Read more

10 customers mention ‘Pacing’10 positive0 negative

Customers find the pacing of the book engaging, with one customer describing it as mesmerizing and deeply moving, while another notes how it makes readers see life afresh and feel connected to the landscape.

"An enjoyable read which is poignant and moving. A host of interesting characters set against a local historical tragedy. Recommended" Read more

"...Coward’s Tale is beautifully written and so definitely, deeply connected to the landscape and the country about which it is written...." Read more

"...realism, however; this is myth, but it is unsentimental and deeply moving...." Read more

"...The stories told by the town beggar, Ianto Jenkins, are mesmerising and often very moving. There is an epic sweep to 'The Coward's Tale'...." Read more

6 customers mention ‘Character development’6 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the character development in the book, finding them rich and intensely human.

"...Ianto Jenkins himself is a masterpiece of a character and the end of the novel, too sad...." Read more

"An enjoyable read which is poignant and moving. A host of interesting characters set against a local historical tragedy. Recommended" Read more

"...The language is so exquisite, the characters so rich and the descriptions so painfully beautiful, I had to stop for a few minutes after each chapter..." Read more

"...sparkling fresh talent, original, poignant, racy and with immensely fascinating characters...." Read more

3 customers mention ‘Depth’3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the depth of the book.

"...Despite the wonderful depth and lyrical quality of Gebbie’s novel, there is nothing twee about it...." Read more

"...while Notwithstanding is full of wit and whimsy, Gebbie's creation is deeper and more poignant, and will resonate far longer than de Bernieres still-..." Read more

"...The story has humour and poignancy and incredible depth, and the most flawless ending to a story I think I have ever seen...." Read more

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BCT
Enchanted and hooked by Gebbie
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 March 2015
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The Coward’s Tale is beautifully written and so definitely, deeply connected to the landscape and the country about which it is written. I suppose this maybe influenced by the fact I listened to it rather than read it but I don’t think so, not really, when I think of the lyrical quality of Gebbie’s prose it does seem absolutely perfect and fitting for writing about traditions gone by and the culture of what was once a mining own.

Despite the wonderful depth and lyrical quality of Gebbie’s novel, there is nothing twee about it. It isn’t whimsical or removed from reality, they people I met as I read felt real, removed from my life but definitely real and their stories, however far-fetched, from the carving of wooden feathers to the non-thief who actually breaks into people’s homes and put things in there, were believable, touching and wonderfully written.

The format of Gebbie’s novel was particularly enjoyable, moving from hints at the character, then onto the backstory, as told by Ianto Jenkins, and then usually back forward in time to the modern day, with many of the characters who have heard the backstory now present and playing some part or questioning the original character.

Central to the story that runs through the middle of all the subplots is Laddy Merridew, in the town by chance after being sent to live with his Gran after the separation of his parents. He’s infiltrating a community in some ways and gets closer and closer to the beggar Jenkins, desperate to hear his stories and become his friend. Ianto Jenkins himself is a masterpiece of a character and the end of the novel, too sad.

The story lines are intricate and engaging and the characters are even more so, I truly fell in love with this novel and am adding Gebbie’s other works to my reading list as I’m sure I’ll enjoy them all.

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Lynn
All in the telling...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 June 2012
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This review appeared in The Tablet, 12 April 2012The Coward's Tale

This is a story about stories, woven like a great patterned shawl in which every thread is another story, playing its part in the whole. At a time when journalists tut that reading fiction during a recession is frivolous, and when short stories have become endangered animals on the radio, this book appears so appositely as to have been conjured magically out of its own metaphors to show us how stories make sense of the world.

It is set in the particular world of a Welsh mining town, based on a real one near Merthyr Tydfil, which is both a small, enclosed place and a Tardis which holds a wider universe of experience and suffering. This world encompasses three generations of townspeople, and the relationships in and twists and turns taken by their lives have all been catalysed by a disaster which happened in the local mine, Kindly Light, many years before. Eleven men, a small boy and the beggar-cum-storyteller-cum-shaman who orchestrates and reveals the stories - these are the main players, whose histories enthrall their neighbours as they do us. There is something mythic in this castlist and its number, just as there is something otherworldly about the figure of the Coward himself, the beggar, Ianto Passchendaele Jenkins, who knows every secret of the town's inhabitants; he lures the audiences of the local cinema away from their queue like a Pied Piper, leading them in imagination deep into the darkness of the pit, and - just as deeply - into the dark crevices of the human heart.

Don't think that this is a whimsical burst of magical realism, however; this is myth, but it is unsentimental and deeply moving. It is also realism of the most compassionate kind, which examines betrayal, love, friendship and remorse through the lives of the main characters, following the expanding rings of cause and effect outward into the families and acquaintances who throng around them.

We find brides who have lost their grooms, and are driven into madness, prostitution and disease; brothers who are parted by disability and worldliness; men who have lost their jobs and their courage; sons who make restitution for the faults of their fathers; and all kinds of behaviour, the eccentricity of which turns out to be utterly logical.

It is a highly visual book, almost cinematic in its conjuration of the streets of the town; the hill with its cemetery, the desolation of the pit, the pub, the library, and the abandoned chapel. It is also plangently aural, conjuring the lilting Welsh voices of the townspeople through precisely rendered idiom; this is a book not so much to be read as to be entered, swum through, saturated in. If you didn't know that Vanessa Gebbie is also a poet, you will discover it from this book: fluently and fluidly written, the language echoes the complex and satisfying structure of the interwoven stories. It is also funny, tense, exciting, and you won't want to stop reading it; buy this for Christmas presents, and your friends will be happy. Everybody needs stories...

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Caroline Rathmell
A good first novel
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 June 2014
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An enjoyable read which is poignant and moving. A host of interesting characters set against a local historical tragedy. Recommended

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Michael Logan
Lyrical and moving
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 November 2011
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Gebbie has long been an author with that elusive touch of bringing achingly human stories to life, and she carries on that tradition in this, her first novel.

It isn't a book to be read in one big gulp. Rather, with its focus on the stories of an array of characters affected by the Kindly Light pit disaster generations before, it can be taken in small chunks, with each mouthful to be savoured and reflected upon.

I don't want to give too much away, but suffice to say that what seems at first to be a collection of disparate stories linked by a common thread comes together beautifully at the end with the resolution of the tale of Ianto Jenkins, the beggar and coward of the title.

If you read and enjoyed Notwithstanding, this is perhaps in a similar vein, focusing as it does on the stories of a small village's residents. But while Notwithstanding is full of wit and whimsy, Gebbie's creation is deeper and more poignant, and will resonate far longer than de Bernieres still-beautiful book.

All-in-all, The Coward's Tale is the work of an author completely in control, and Gebbie - who has been a favorite of the literati for many years - deserves to take a step into wider acknowledgement for this deft work.

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hurst
The Coward's Tale
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 December 2012
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this was a book club choice - not one i would have personally chosen. it was ok, quite lyrical but difficult to get going with. i was not captivated but did feel sympathy with some of the characters and moved by others. i probably wouldnt recommend it as a great read but most of our book club members enjoyed it.

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Max Read
"A timeless tale: `A watch with no hands'"
Reviewed in the United States on 30 June 2012
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Venessa Gebbie is from Welsh heritage, a British author living in Sussex. She is a journalist and short story writer and also teaches creative writing. "The Coward's Tale" is Ms. Gebbie's debut novel.

"The Coward's Tale" is a narrated work with distinctive Welsh expression and lilt. It is a well written compendium of chapters set out as short stories that form a continuum. The plot is set in the mining country of southern Wales and is a collection of tales that are told though reminisces of the town beggar, Ianto Passchendaele Jenkins.

The collected stories tell the history of the town and trace three generations of townspeople; fathers, sons, daughters, wives and husbands all affected by the accident at the Kindly Light mine that claimed eighty five lives. For Ianto life begins each day on the stone bench on the porch of an unused chapel where he emerges daily to exchange his tales for food and coffee. As a young boy of only twelve, Ianto was forced to join the other coal miners at the Kindly Light mine when his father became too sick to work. On only his third day an explosion in the mine claimed the lives of a significant number of the miners, leaving Ianto to survive. Beset by superstitions long plied by the miners, Ianto announces he is a coward and that the tragedy was his entire fault and hence becomes the scapegoat for all the emotional horrors of the townsfolk. Now, as an old man in the sunset of his years, Ianto personifies a life spent in penance for his perceived weakness, the cause of the tragedy; however arguable that there was no causality to the events as they happened.

Ianto's stories all seem to contain some mystical significance where the "truth" of the events as they really happened becomes extraneous to the revelations of family significance and emotional personal truths. The stories told are inspired by the friendship between Ianto and Laddy Merridew, a red-haired nine-year-old who has just come to live with his grandmother. In an introduction steeped with symbolism, Laddy, weeps from the mockery of schoolboys calling him "stinker" because his clothes smell of mothballs, introduces himself to Ianto by saying, "My name is Laddy Merridew. I'm a cry-baby. I'm sorry." Though Ianto does not stop walking or even look back at the boy, he responds, "And my name is Ianto Jenkins. I am a coward. And that's worse."

Eliciting an emotional and thought provoking experience I would qualify the work as a most enjoyable novel and I highly recommend it for your reading list. I would rate it memorable.

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Carole
Beautifully told story
Reviewed in the United States on 11 July 2022
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Very interesting concept, to tell a story through the eyes of the town's homeless person. Beautifully written. I found tears running down my cheeks at the end...as the author has brought all the towns people together. "As the white feathers fall"...just beautiful.

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Reid Branson
Very good, sweet
Reviewed in the United States on 12 November 2015
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A pleasant, heartfelt story of Wales.

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James D'Angelo
Wonderful and touching
Reviewed in the United States on 5 February 2016
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Vanessa Gebbie’s THE COWARD’S TALE was my novel of the year and ranks high on my list of favorite books. It is in company with Zola’s GERMINAL, STONER by John Williams, Stephen Crane’s RED BADGE OF COURAGE, Carson McCuller’s THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER, Willa Cather’s MY ANTONIA, etc. I was entranced with the story and characters right from the beginning. Pure and simple, this novel is glorious. Laddy Merridew and Ianto Jenkins will steal your heart.

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Samantha Zuniga
The Coward's Tale Review
Reviewed in the United States on 12 November 2012
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In The Coward's Tale by Vanessa Gebbie, an awkward boy named Laddy Merridew is able to find himself after being sent to live with his grandmother in a Welsh town. Lacking confidence and strength, he is unable to speak up for himself. However, after meeting Ianto Jenkins, a beggar with no run-of-the-mill personality, Laddy is able to express himself and learns that it is okay to be different. He admires Ianto for being different, and accepts him for who he is.
By listening to Ianto's stories, Laddy is enlightened on the history of this town and how everyone's life is affected from an accident in a mining pit. Ianto's stories give Laddy hope, as the people in his stories try to achieve the impossible. Everyone in town respects Ianto and listens to his stories, regardless of his differences, allowing Laddy to see that he does not have to act like everyone else to gain respect. Through his experiences, Laddy finds the strength to speak up after Ianto's death and does not allow him to be buried, because Ianto is afraid of being underground. Laddy learns to speak up for himself, gains self-confidence, and earns respect from everyone in the town.

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The Coward's Tale Hardcover – 7 Nov. 2011

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Top reviews from United Kingdom

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5.0 out of 5 stars Enchanted and hooked by Gebbie

5.0 out of 5 stars All in the telling...

4.0 out of 5 stars A good first novel

5.0 out of 5 stars Lyrical and moving

3.0 out of 5 stars The Coward's Tale

Top reviews from other countries

5.0 out of 5 stars "A timeless tale: `A watch with no hands'"

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully told story

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good, sweet

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful and touching

5.0 out of 5 stars The Coward's Tale Review

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Enchanted and hooked by Gebbie

All in the telling...

A good first novel

Lyrical and moving

The Coward's Tale

"A timeless tale: `A watch with no hands'"

Beautifully told story

Very good, sweet

Wonderful and touching

The Coward's Tale Review