Anyone who wants to know how it felt to be young, idealistic and innocent at the end of the war should read The Cowards The Times Literary Supplement Sceptical, humourous, liberal and humane. London Review of Books [The series] sheds remarkable light on the literature, culture and politics of the region...anyone coming fresh to the field will be captivated by the richness, variety, humour and pathos of a classic literature that, through a shared historical experience, transcends national and linguistic boundaries. -- Cj Schuler Independent on Sunday This [series] is a wonderful idea ... They are absurdist parables, by turns hilarious, unsettling and enigmatic. -- Nicholas Lezard Guardian I urge you to go and read them. -- Adam Thirlwell New Statesman This new series of Central European Classics is important well beyond simply providing 'good reads'. -- Stephen Vizinczey Daily Telegraph

Josef Skvorecky (born in 1924) was a leading Czech novelist and dissident, a key figure in keeping alive from exile a liberal, humanistic Czech culture during the Cold War. His most famous novels are The Cowards, Miss Silver's Past, The Bass Saxophone and The Engineer of Human Souls. He died in 2012, at the age of eighty-seven.