Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

It took me a little while to get into this but when I did it was well worth the wait. I got completely drawn into the story and really enjoyed it overall.

It was an enjoyable book with a good plot, good characterization, and enjoyable writing. I'd read again from this writer.
Thanks a lot for this copy.

I thoroughly enjoyed this read and it was something a bit different for me. I enjoyed the dialect and olde worlde feel about it. The setting really comes to life with vivid visualisations which I think is an incredible achievement with a book. I loved the characters and the way difficult topics were handled. Overall a fantastic book that I will recommend to many.

“A woman has to fight sometimes. It’s as well ya know how.”

Annie Loveridge is a fighting woman, and no mistake. Helpless to protest as a girl when her impoverished Romi family sells her to an aging prizefighter, beset by taunting bullies in her young womanhood, she learns the skill of pugilism and becomes somewhat notorious, performing for show but also in earnest against serious foes.

In nineteenth-century England, in the industrial Midlands, this doesn’t mean just human opponents. Ignorance, exploitation, class divisions, the rich grinding the poor into the dust for profit: these are Annie’s adversaries, and those of her family and loved ones. A female fighter, smart and canny in her own defense, could be an inspiration to the downtrodden then, and even to us today.

Featherweight is an odd mixture in tone, all grit and blood at times, as in the blow-by-blow narration of Annie’s fights. At other times it’s as sweet and fluffy as a meringue pie, with a love-at-first-sight romance that holds absolutely no tension. This sweetness also applies to Annie’s relationship with the man who bought her – one might have expected something more sinister there, but he seems to truly cherish her as a daughter. Adding to the sentimental trope, his slow slide into drunkenness means their roles reverse and she ends up trying to protect him.

Annie’s voice was the thing I loved the most about the novel. With the rhythmic flavor of underground poetry, and the tart humor of society’s outsiders, it brings something quite unique to a story that under the surface is not terribly unconventional. Melodrama takes over at the end, with an over-the-top denouement and a sudden escape scene that left me disappointed and underwhelmed. With such a great build-up, I could have wished for a weightier conclusion.

Another slight drawback is the third-person narration that breaks in at times. It is not clear why or how this is interpolated, since a prologue sets the scene as the whole tale being told by Annie to a servant later in her life. I kept expecting some explanation to come up for this device: another observant character? A multiple personality? But it never did, and I can only assume that the author just wanted to change things up a bit.

Still, in spite of these odd narrative jolts, and the loss of momentum as it went along, the fighting spirit of Featherweight and its heroine will remain with me. Most memorably, Annie compared the skill of boxing to that of reading – and though I’m unlikely ever to land a punch, I can aspire to undertake my battles of the spirit with equal grit and determination. “A woman has to fight sometimes,” after all.

Mick Kitson is a consummate storyteller. I loved "Sal" too, albeit it's a very different book. I was completely immersed in "Featherweight" from the outset. I loved the dialect and the olde worlde feel of it. Kitson describes his setting with great skill. The foundries are so vivid you can hear the clangs of the hammers and feel the white heat and steam. His characters are well-drawn, from feisty Annie to big, gentle giant and fighting machine, Bill. Themes include poverty, alcoholism, suffrage and the attitudes towards education for girls in the 1800s. I thoroughly enjoyed "Featherweight" and look forward to whatever Mick Kitson does next.

Featherweight by Mick Kitson is a fascinating work of historical fiction, loosely inspired by the author's own family history. Initially drawn in by the beautiful cover, the description of the story completely sold me on the book. Although I have read quite a bit of historical fiction, I have never come across a story like this one, There are fist fights and first loves, highway men and depraved Lords , all wrapped up in the wonderfully told story of our narrator, Annie Perry.
As a young child, Annie is sold by her Romani family, who can no longer afford to feed her, and becomes the adoptive daughter of one of the greatest prize fighters of the time, Bill Perry, the Tipton Slasher. When the time comes for him to give up fighting the pair settle down and buy an alehouse. While Annie is happy in her life with Bill, she still faces regular abuse because of her Romani heritage, and when she is brutally attacked one evening she decides that she will have to learn how to defend herself. The fighting skills she learns are put to the test when she is forced into a boxing ring, not only to protect her beloved Bill, but to try to earn some money to save the floundering alehouse , their home. Soon she finds herself part of a touring boxing booth, taking on all comers as the daughter of the Tipton Slasher, and a new way of life is born. However things can never run smoothly for too long and soon Annie finds herself in the most dangerous situation of her life, and it is one where even her fists will not be able to save her.
I was totally fascinated by this book which gave me a glimpse of a facet of history I knew nothing about. The author does not shy away from the brutality of the ring, and though the book is not a gore fest, there are numerous descriptions of brutal injuries which some readers might find upsetting. At first I was not sure about the author's decision to use the first person for all of Annie's chapters , especially in the early part of the book, where it is a child's perspective, but over the course of the book as a whole, as she grew up and got an education, it became less of a distraction. Some people might find the pace a little slow, but I didn't mind it, I was enjoying getting to know the characters so much that it was not an issue. I also appreciated how the author was able to give a real sense of the huge social changes that were happening during the period the book was set in, with increased industrialisation and the resultant social unrest being woven into the narrative effortlessly. Annie is also a fantastic character to hang a story on, she is determined, fiercely independent and determined to succeed on her own merits despite the many setbacks she faces along the way.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Women boxing came to our most recent attention with the likes of Olympic winner Nicola Adams, but I was shocked to find that women's boxing in England began way back in the 1720s.
I was familiar with some of the male pugilists of the Victorian era including Bendigo in Nottinghamshire and there is much description in this wonderful novel of the ways in which still illegal bouts took place with audiences across all classes in towns and mostly country fairs.
I felt the whole story had a feel of Thomas Hardy and his story 'The Mayor of Casterbridge' - one of my favourites where a woman is sold at a fair by her drunken husband. Early in the book Annie, our narrator, with her Romani family has, as a young child, to make the sacrifice of leaving her poverty stricken family to be under the care of Bill Perry.
Bill i a wonderful character, rogue yes and drunkard, dreadful with money but generous and kind. As Annie becomes involved herself in the fighting contests. If you are squeamish about violence best avoid parts as the fighting is detailed in all its blood and guts. Tough sport for tough people.
Other characters weave the themes of radicalism, the Church especially the marvellous Warren sisters, daughters of Rev Elijah Warren. Annie makes progress intellectually and the contrasts between the workhouse and the schoolhouse are superbly brought to life. Even Robert Burns gets a mention against a backdrop of debauchery (mostly the upper classes) and Annie's determination to resolve the fate of her family.
Look out for the enigmatic Black Cloak highwayman and the slimy Lord Ledbury. There is love too through the tale and we are fighting ourselves for Annie's happiness and escape.
Social history, sporting developments in boxing and the life of a Romani girl, sometimes lucky sometimes cursed.
Excellent read

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Canongate for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Who doesn’t like a nice simple story?  And this is a lovely story set in the Midlands in the 19th century, where life was tough for some and a lot stricter for others. While some enjoyed pure indulgence.

There will be no great or small surprises in this tale, so throw away the safety harness, and go back to when life was about survival.  For some, that survival meant doing the 'manly' jobs that only the 'manliest' of men thought only they could do. Earn a bread by raising your arms in a good fisticuffs with the only rule not to be knocked to the ground.

Here we find Annie, determined she can stand toe to toe with the best. She has survived tougher than this. Having been sold as a child, she had to fight to survive, she had to fight to be accepted, and she had to fight to get an education.  What was one more fight? She learned to fight by watching her adopted father. A legend of the ring who was known far and wide. Her toughest fight was to come. Could she survive in a world where people got what they wanted? And one young man wanted all the pleasures he could get with a sack of gold. No matter what the cost.

3.5 stars

A book with entertaining characters and adventure but felt the pacing was a bit too slow for me and I struggled for a while to get in to the plot due to this, but it's interesting to see the characters develop

Annie Loveridge is the eldest daughter of a Romani family in the heart of the black country. Living in a wagon begging for food and asking old jobs to earn their way. When her father dies at the age of nine Annie is sold off to boxer William Perry, The Tipton Slasher. He treats her like her own daughter and build a strong bond between one another.
As she grows up Annie manages the ale house William has brought in his retirement. As William likes his drink so someone must keep him in line. She even learns to box herself with the help of Janey and she also learns to read poems from Mr Wordsworth and Robbie Burns.
This is a great historical novel with an eclectic group of characters told in Annie’s POV of her fight to better herself with the cards that she has been dealt with. I did enjoy this rag to riches story, although at first I thought it was rather slow but picked up in the second half. 4 stars from me.

Annie is the youngest one in her Romani family, and due to their circumstances she has been sold off to serve as a wench to a famous boxer named Bill Perry, or the Tipton Slasher as they call him. When Bill's fighting days seem to be over, Annie steps into the ring and fights!

Such an enjoyable read. I was pleasantly surprised with the book, as I have never before read anything close to this. I love historical-fiction, but not many have shone a light on something like this!

The writing is phenomenal, and it really pulls you into the world. It may take some time getting used to it, but I feel like it only takes a couple of chapters to get into the swing of things.

Annie's character was so endearing, she was so warm, kind and intelligent. She's so strong, especially after all that she has been through, but she doesn't falter, not for one second. I absolutely adored her.

Any fans of historical-fiction will enjoy this quick read.

I loved this - Mick Kitson demonstrates great skill in creating such tangible characters who populate a vivid story.

Annie belongs to a travelling family, and is sold as a young child when her mother can’t afford to feed the whole family. Bill Perry buys her - he is the Slasher, famed for his boxing prowess, and they soon have a strong father and daughter like relationship.

The characters in this book all felt so real - the emotions they feel and the physicality of the poverty, the boxing, the moving around the country. Highly recommended.

I had loved Sal so I was very much looking forward to reading Mick Kitson's new book, and I was not disappointed. The descriptions of the fairs, of the boxing matches - or fisticuffs as they were called -, and of 19th-century working-class Britain are so vivid it fells like we are right there with Annie. And what a character! Quick-witted, fierce and funny, I found in Annie a 19th-century version of Sal: a young girl who wasn't born in the best circumstances but who is determined to make the best of what life has on offer regardless. A fantastic read!

I'm a huge fan of 'Sal', Mick Kitson's first book, and was curious to see how he would make the change to writing a historical novel.

Annie Perry is sold by her starving family to a drunken prizefighter, exchanging her Romi life for one in the increasingly industrialised town of Tipton. Annie is one of the few people unafraid of her adoptive father's fearsome strenght, and manages both him and the Champion of England, the alehouse he buys for his retirement. She learns to fight, training with Bill's friend, Janey, to become formidable performer. At the same time she demonstrates a capacity for learning, reading not only the Bible, but also the poems of Mr Wordsworth and Mr Rabbie Burns.

Annie and her adoptive family are vividly portrayed, and their love and loyalty to each other makes them very likeable. But equally vivid is the world they live in, with increasing industrialisation, civil unrest, strikes, the rich man in his castle, and the never-ending battle against dirt and grime from the polluting works. Like Sal, Annie is tough and resourceful, and she needs to be in a world where working people are exploited by the manufacturers, and starvation is a constant threat.. I'm not a fan of violence, and there is plenty of blood and gore in 'Featherweight', but it never feels gratuitous. Annie and her associates fight because it makes economic sense, and offers them independence.

The plot of the novel rattles along. It's a rags to riches story, with shades of Victorian melodrama and Penny Dreadfuls - there are wicked noblemen, family tragedies and even a highwaymen. I raced through the book, desparate to find out what would happen to Annie, but this is one of those deceptive books that leaves you with a lot to think about after you've finished. . I really enjoyed it, and can't wait to see what Mick Kitson writes next.

An enjoyable read,that is full of interesting and colourful characters.
I enjoyed Annie's story,though I felt it took a while to pick up the pace.
Nice way to spend a sunday afternoon with a cuppa

Annie Loveridge is the eldest daughter of the family. Following the death of her husband and with many children to support, her mother has no option but to sell Annie in order to survive. Annie is bought by Bill Perry a bare knuckle fighter and sometime boatman. Bill is a gentle giant who shows Annie love and care, but it is a hard life and Annie learns to fight to help pay the bills.
This story is set in the Midlands in the mid 19th century. The descriptive, historical details create a wonderfully atmospheric environment that bring alive the hardship and poverty of the time.
The narrative alternates between Annie's first person account and a third person narrative and the story itself is bracketed by a prologue and epilogue set in 1906 in America.
I enjoyed this book for the historical detail and the endearing characters. At first I found it rather slow paced but it did pick up after a while. I wasn't sure what the purpose of the prologue or epilogue was, they seemed to be superfluous and the story wouldn't have suffered for them not being there.
Overall it was an entertaining read.