Then something white lands on the boy’s raincoat. Ash. He brushes it away and it leaves a streak like smoke on his sleeve. But it is joined by another and another, delicate things, almost nothing, falling out of the dark. And the night is filled with a blizzard of white above the beggar Ianto Passchendaele Jenkins’s blazing boat, a blizzard of white feathers rising and tumbling on the up-draught before landing gently and perfectly on the grass.
The Kindly Light Generations
The names of those killed down Kindly Light one September morning, underlined.
Other Dramatis Personae
Now
Ianto Passchendaele Jenkins, beggar and storyteller
Ieuan ‘Laddy’ Merridew
Laddy Merridew’s gran, cleaner
Mrs Bennie Parrish, widow
Mrs Prinny Ellis, cinema factotum
Mrs Z. Cadwalladr, Principal Librarian
The colliers who are no longer colliers
Batty Annie, mother of the boy Dai
The publican of The Cat Inn Public House
Maggie, the publican’s wife
At the time of the Kindly Light accident
Hannah Jenkins, mother of Ianto Passchendaele Jenkins the beggar
Father of Ianto Jenkins
Ifor Jenkins (the Maggot), younger brother of Ianto
Old Mrs Watkins
The spinster daughters Gwendolyn and Gwynneth Watkins
Mr Ernest Ellis
Mrs Ellis
Author’s Note
The Coward’s Tale is set in a fictitious town based tenuously on Twynyrodyn, Merthyr Tydfil, in the south Wales valleys. Many places in the novel are (or were) real; this is where both my father and mother were born and brought up, went to school and had their first jobs. However, thanks to the imprecision of childhood memories and the even more imprecise wanderings of a writer’s imagination, the topography of the entire area has been changed. Streets have been realigned, renamed, as the story dictated. Buildings have been created or moved to another location, stone by stone, the stones changing colour in transit. I have moved whole mountains.
I would love to have a drink at The Cat on the corner of Maerdy Street and walk down the road to the remains of old Kindly Light pit – but they only exist in these pages.
Acknowledgements
My thanks are due to the following:
Euan Thorneycroft at AM Heath, Helen Garnons-Williams, Erica Jarnes and Holly Macdonald at Bloomsbury’s London offices, and Kathy Belden in New York.
Tracy Chevalier and the Bridport Prize; Sam Leith, Louise Doughty and the Daily Telegraph ‘Novel in a Year’ Competition; Miriam Kotzin and Bill Turner of Per Contra: The International Journal of the Arts, Literature and Ideas; Andrew G. Marshall, Tania Hershman, Alex Keegan and Niyati Keni; Sue Booth-Forbes of Anam Cara Writers’ and Artists’ Retreat, Ireland, where The Coward’s Tale was written; the Arts Council for their support through Grants for the Arts; and Maggie Gee for her insight, guidance and generosity.
My families, both of them, especially my mothers, who might have approved. Last but not least, my husband Chris, whose love and patience sometimes seem limitless.
A Note on the Author
Vanessa Gebbie is the author of two collections of stories and contributing editor of a Creative Writing text book. She has won numerous awards – including prizes at Bridport, Fish and the Willesden Herald – for her short fiction. An extract from The Coward’s Tale won the Daily Telegraph ‘Novel in a Year’ Competition. Vanessa Gebbie is Welsh and lives in Sussex.
By the Same Author
Storm Warning
Words from a Glass Bubble
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organisations, places and
events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any
resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is entirely coincidental.
First published in Great Britain 2011
Copyright © Vanessa Gebbie 2011
This electronic edition published 2011 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
The right of Vanessa Gebbie to be identified as the author of this work has been
asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise
make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means
(including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying,
printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable
to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
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ISBN 978 1 4088 2620 1
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Table of Contents
By the Town Statue, Outside the Public Library
The Woodwork Teacher’s Tale i
The Woodwork Teacher’s Tale ii
In the Porch of Ebenezer Chapel
The Halfwit’s Tale and the Deputy Bank Manager’s Tale i
The Halfwit’s Tale and the Deputy Bank Manager’s Tale ii
The Halfwit’s Tale and the Deputy Bank Manager’s Tale iii
By the Old Sheds at the End of Maerdy Street
The Baker’s Tale i
The Baker’s Tale ii
The Baker’s Tale iii
In the Porch of Ebenezer Chapel
The Deputy Librarian’s Tale and the Undertaker’s Tale i
The Deputy Librarian’s Tale and the Undertaker’s Tale ii
The Deputy Librarian’s Tale and the Undertaker’s Tale iii
The Deputy Librarian’s Tale and the Undertaker’s Tale iv
In the Park, on the Bench Dedicated to Miss Gwynneth Watkins
The Piano Tuner’s Tale i
The Piano Tuner’s Tale ii
The Piano Tuner’s Tale iii
On the Old Footbridge over the Taff
The Window Cleaner’s Tale i
The Window Cleaner’s Tale ii
The Window Cleaner’s Tale iii
In the Park, on the Bench Dedicated to Miss Gwynneth Watkins
The Clerk’s Tale i
The Clerk’s Tale ii
The Clerk’s Tale iii
In the Porch of Ebenezer Chapel
The Gas Meter Emptier’s Tale i
The Gas Meter Emptier’s Tale ii
The Gas Meter Emptier’s Tale iii
By the Cemetery on the Hill they Call Black Mountain
The Collier’s Tale i
The Collier’s Tale ii
The Collier’s Tale iii
At Ebenezer Chapel
At the Top of the Last Hill
The Kindly Light Generations
Other Dramatis Personae
Author’s Note
Acknowledgements
A Note on the Author
By the Same Author
v>
The Coward’s Tale Page 29