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|title=The Fair Fight

|sort=Fair Fight, The

|publisher=Orion Publishing

|date=August 2014

|website=http://www.applesandsnakes.co.uk/page/84/Performance+poets/417

|video=SjlYFPYfSVs

|summary=On the cusp of the 19th Century, Ruth is born in 'The Convent', a brothel run by her Madame of a mother. When a regular client takes an interest in Ruth, deciding to turn her into a female prize fighter, we are swept up into a grimy, dirty world. Journeying from the bloody sawdust at the side of a boxing ring to grand mansions and high society, this is a stunning debut by poet Anna Freeman.

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Set in the grimy streets of Bristol, we follow the journey of Ruth – born to a Madame in a brothel, and constantly outshone by her prettier sister Dora, Ruth learns to stand on two feet and to defend herself – something which is picked up on by a regular client of Dora’s, Mr Dryer. Plunged headfirst into the world of fighting, Ruth soon meets Grenville Dryer’s wife, Charlotte, a woman scarred by smallpox and trapped in a loveless relationship with her husband, and a toxic one with her brother.