The Coward

Summary

The Coward is a compelling and darkly humorous exploration of what it means to come to terms with a broken body, rebuild a broken relationship and find love when it seems like there is no hope.

‘When I woke up in the hospital, they told me my girlfriend had been killed. She wasn’t my girlfriend, but I didn't correct them. The first weeks were a confusion of morphine and fluorescent strip lighting. A scrubs-clad stranger told me I wouldn't walk again. She said something about a wheelchair and I said I preferred crutches, still not understanding.'

This is not the tale of redemption and hope one would expect. In this bold act of auto-fiction, Jarred McGinnis is a man whose life has been hedonistic, downright self-destructive, filled with reckless decisions and driven by anger at the world. Until a car accident one night. When he wakes up, it’s to discover he will never walk again.

Discharged from the hospital ahead of time, he is forced to return home to a father he has not seen in ten years. Jarred struggles to reconcile memories of abuse and pain with the man helping him now, even as he struggles to adjust to life in a wheelchair. Resentful and feeling guilty, Jarred lashes out through a familiar pattern of self-destructive behaviour. The relationship between father and son is tense and filled with misunderstandings – but also, surprisingly, with jokes. As time passes the pair cautiously find a way forward and Jarred begins to see a future for himself.