Sponsored by Featherweight by Mick Kitson (Canongate)
Annie Perry is born beside the canals of the Black Country, at the height of the Industrial Revolution. The youngest in a Romani family who cannot afford to keep her, Annie is sold as a servant to the famous and feared bare-knuckle boxer Bill Perry, The Tipton Slasher.
Bill is starting to lose his strength but refuses to give up his crown. When it looks like a fight might become Bill’s last, Annie steps into the ring, fists raised in his defense. From that moment she is determined to follow in Bill’s footsteps, to learn to fight for herself.