Fight Night: ‘A Gem: humour and hope in the face of suffering’ Observer

‘Sets standards for grandmotherly swearing and outspokenness I can never hope to match. Go Grandma Elvira!’ - MARGARET ATWOOD

You are a small thing, and you must learn to fight.

Swiv has taken her grandmother’s advice too literally. Now she’s at home, suspended from school. Mom is pregnant and preoccupied - and so Swiv is in the older woman’s charge, receiving a very different form of education from a teacher with a style all her own.

Grandma likes her stories fast, troublesome and funny. She’s known the very worst that life can throw at you - and has met it every time with a wild, unnamable spirit, fighting for joy and independence every step of the way. But will maths lessons based on Amish jigsaws and classes on How to Dig a Winter Grave inspire the same fire in Swiv, and ensure it never goes out?

Time is running short. Grandma’s health is failing, the baby is on the way, as a family of three extraordinary women prepare to face life’s great changes together.

‘Fight Night is glorious: funny and sad and beautifully written.’ - SARAH MOSS