The Tenth Man

Written in 1944 but first published in 1985, The Tenth Man is set in a prison in occupied France during World War II and concerns Lewis Chavel, a captured rich lawyer who is probably going to be shot in a German act of reprisal. In a prison in Occupied France one in every ten men is to be shot. The prisoners draw lots among themselves — and for lawyer Louis Chavel it seems that his whole life has been leading up to an agonizing failure of nerve. Hysterical with panic, fear, and a sense of injustice, he offers to barter everything he owns for someone to take his place.