Robert Hugh Benson

The Coward Robert Hugh Benson

This third of Robert Hugh Benson's "mainstream" novels, The Coward, first published in 1912, may have been the most shocking to the upper class sensibilities of Benson's day. A young man is faced with challenges and manages to fail at every step. He becomes convinced he is an irredeemable coward - and only then begins to find courage. In a damning indictment of close-minded Edwardian society, a supreme act of courage on the young man's part is mistaken for yet one more craven act. The Coward takes on the soul-destroying tendency to adhere unthinkingly to social conventions. This newly formatted and edited edition features a foreword by Benson scholar Michael D. Greaney.