Anna Whitwham: Soft Tissue Damage

Beginning with tentative training sessions and culminating in a full-blooded fight, the book follows her journey through the sport during the raw aftermath of losing her mother to cancer.

Tender, honest and full of startling insight, Soft Tissue Damage examines the extremes of what the human body can endure and express - its capacity for strength and vulnerability, violence and sexuality, love and grief.

“A knockout… the way Whitwham writes about violence and human bodies is joyously defiant and radically sensual.” - Emma Jane Unsworth

Anna Whitwham, who was named an Observer Best Debut Novelist for her first book Boxer Handsome, teaches creative writing at Royal Holloway and was the first female journalist to write for Boxing News.