The Fair Fight
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
I sat before my tambour hoop but I did not sew. I thought of split lips, flying teeth and red blood on white linen.
Born in a Bristol brothel at the end of the eighteenth century, Ruth Webber, her toe upon the scratch, is ready to face all comers.
Lady Charlotte Sinclair, scarred with small pox and bullied by her boorish brother, is on the verge of smashing the bonds of convention that have held her for so long.
George Bowden, without inheritance or title, is prepared to do whatever it takes to make his way in the world.
Let the fight begin . . .
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this period novel, Freeman introduces readers to two diametrically opposite Englishwomen of the early 19th century. First is Ruth Downs, who is born and raised with her sister, Dora, in a brothel in Bristol called "the convent."Deemed not attractive enough to serve the brothel's clientele, Ruth accidentally stumbles upon a career as a bare-knuckle boxer fighting men for money. Her patron, Granville Dryer, is also Dora's regular client. The second woman is the well-born but pox-scarred Charlotte Sinclair, who marries Dryer to get away from her debauched brother, Perry. She finds life as a married woman boring, but one day, while attending the St. James's Fair, she is transfixed by the sight of Ruth in the ring. When Dryer decides to promote Ruth's boxer husband, Tom Webber, this brings Charlotte into contact with Ruth, who secretly teaches Charlotte how to box and becomes her sparring partner. But Tom's bad showing in London changes the game for all involved. Freeman cleverly uses Ruth and Charlotte to show how 19th-century women, no matter their circumstances, had few choices in their lives. Her evocation of the seedier aspects of Georgian England is persuasive, even for readers who don't know a cove from a cull. But the narrative fails to follow through on the promise of its premise, and the melodramatic pile-up of domestic and romantic entanglements overwhelms the more exciting story of what happens inside the prize ring.