If you’re a fan of Sarah Waters or Emma Donoghue (doing historical fiction), then I think you’ll like this novel—a story partly centered around Ruth, a woman boxer in Bristol in the 19th century but also following several other characters she comes in contact with—George, a gentleman with poor prospects and a penchant for gambling, and Charlotte, a wealthy young woman scarred by small pox and trapped by the men in her life. All three characters are struggling to make their way in the world—trapped […]
Jane Austen meets Fight Club meets Dickens
Well this one is definitely making my favorite books of 2015 list. I’ve been saving it for my half cannonball. It has everything a person could wish for in a book: Female pugilists! Gambling dens! Orphans growing up in brothels! Handsome fops! Ladies in corsets! Scoundrels everywhere! As a huge Jane Austen fan, it was really fun to read something taking place during the same time period in a completely different context, something that’s not afraid to delve into the seedy underbelly of English society. […]