The Longest Fight Synopsis
Set in 1950s London amidst the gritty and violent world of boxing, this beautiful and brutal debut is the story of one man's struggle to overcome the mistakes and tragedies of his past. Jack Munday has been fighting all his life. His early memories are shaped by the thrill of the boxing ring. Since then he has grown numb, scarred by his bullying father and haunted by the tragic fate of his first love. Now a grafting boxing manager, Jack in hungry for change. So when hope and ambition appear in the form of Frank, a young fighter with a winning prospect, and Georgie, a new girl who can match him step for step, Jack seizes his chance for a better future, determined to win at all costs.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781908434531 |
| Publication date: |
12th February 2015 |
| Author: |
Emily Bullock |
| Publisher: |
Myriad Editions |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
305 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Historical Fiction
|
| Recommendations: |
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Emily Bullock Press Reviews
'The Longest Fight tells a gripping and nuanced story about boxing and London in the 1940s and 50s. Emily Bullock brings a new sensibility to the way the sport is evoked and has produced a boxing novel that is both compelling and original.'- Kate Pullinger
'Emily Bullock's punchy prose vividly describes a world of hard knocks and high hopes in post-war London. The Longest Fight is a wonderfully compelling, atmospheric first novel.' - Andrew Cowan
'Emily Bullock's writing is like a finely honed weapon that plunges you into the depths of London's 1950s world of boxing and the underbelly of a society struggling to survive. Full of characters so realistic, colourful and heartbreaking with a story that never fails to surprise. A brilliant debut novel by a writer from whom you'll want to read more.' - Sandy Lieberson, producer of Performance
'Atmospheric and elegant storytelling with a strong sense of authentic detail - The characters are rich and alive, including the unforgettable Jack Munday, whose youth and adult years are expertly interwoven in a taut exploration of how or how much an individual can overcome a damaged past. An intimate and original view of the world of boxing and the men and (importantly) the women involved in it.' - Linda Anderson
'Fights, families, all the twisted dramas of love, this gives you 1950s London as lived by its boxing families. Theirs is a rich and unknown world, and The Longest Fight is a raw beauty of a book.' - Martin Goodman
About Emily Bullock
Emily Bullock won the Bristol Short Story Prize with her story My Girl, which was also broadcast on BBC Radio 4. She worked in film before pursuing writing full time. Her memoir piece No One Plays Boxing was shortlisted for the Fish International Publishing Prize 2013 and her short story Zoom was longlisted for the Bath Short Story Prize 2014. She also won the National Writers in Education Conference (NAWE) Short Story Competition in 2013. She has a Creative Writing MA from the University of East Anglia and completed her PhD at the Open University, where she also teaches Creative Writing. The Longest Fight is Emily's debut novel.
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