Review: Boxer Handsome by Anna Whitwham

Random House

 I was recently sent a copy of Boxer Handsome, the debut novel by Anna Whitwham- and it was a striking read.


Set against the backdrop of contemporary East-End London, Boxer Handsome is an "unsung hymn to tribal boxing history and to an angry and austere Britain, a community up against itself, fighting for space."

The main character Bobby comes from a family of boxers, and a week before his big scheduled fight, he finds himself fighting for the heart of Theresa.

This isn't a book that I would have typically selected at a bookstore to read myself, but it was fantastic to read something so different and so captivating.

Whitwham is well placed to write a novel of this kind. She herself comes from the boxing world- her grandfather John Poppy, was a young featherweight boxer at Crown & Manor Boy's Club in Hoxton, and he is Whitwham's inspiration behind the book.

If you're after a really different and gripping read, then Boxer Handsome is the book for you!