Author: Robert Cormier

Published: 1999

Publisher: Puffin

Format: Paperback

Pages: 112

Suitable: Secondary

Maimed and disfigured whilst fighting in the war, young Francis Cassavant must hide both his face and his identity when he goes back home to Frenchtown. For his past holds a bitter secret, one which he has vowed to revenge and which he can resolve only through his final, desperate plan.

Heroes by Robert Cormier is a moving young-adult novel set in World War II. 'What if I told him I am not the hero he thinks I am ...?' Maimed and disfigured whilst fighting in the war, young Francis Cassavant must hide both his face and his identity when he goes back home to Frenchtown. For his past holds a bitter secret, one which he has vowed to revenge and which he can resolve only through his final, desperate plan: to destroy the man who betrayed him as a boy, bringing Francis dishonour and guilt. Left now without a face or a future, yet sustained by his deep sense of shame, Francis watches. He thinks of the gun in his duffel bag and waits, alone, for the return of another supposed hero.