<p>'Any girl who boxes,' writes Leah Hager Cohen, 'challenges, wittingly or not, the idea of what it means to be a girl in our culture. Through the prism of what she does with her fists, she brings a fiercely contrarian light to our most fundamental notions about femininity and power and appetite and shame and desire.' Originally intending simply to research the subject, Leah met four adolescent girls from a Boston housing project who were training under a female coach at the Somerville Boxing Club. In the course of a year, she grew close to them, learning about their families, where they grew up, their explosive friendships and experience of each other as 'intimate adversaries', and especially the damage that had turned each of them into a fighter. Drawn into the ring herself, Leah sparred with the girls and was astounded by the strength and authority of her body. 'I was beginning to get a feel for my own reach.' Spirited and provocative, Without Apology is Leah Cohen's account of what she discovered in that gym about herself, about girls who box, and ultimately about the buried connections between femininity and aggression.</p>

Without Apology

Leah Hager Cohen

Weidenfeld & N.

<p>In the seemingly idyllic town of Rundle Junction, Bennie and Walter are preparing to host the wedding of their eldest daughter Clem. A marriage ceremony at their beloved, rambling home should be the happiest of occasions, but Walter and Bennie have a secret. A new community has moved to Rundle Junction, threatening the social order and forcing Bennie and Walter to confront uncomfortable truths about the lengths they would go to to maintain harmony.\nMeanwhile, Aunt Glad, the oldest member of the family, arrives for the wedding plagued by long-buried memories of a scarring event that occurred when she was a girl in Rundle Junction. As she uncovers details about her role in this event, the family begins to realise that Clem's wedding may not be exactly what it seemed.\nClever, passionate, artistic Clem has her own agenda. What she doesn t know is that by the end, everyone will have roles to play in this richly imagined ceremony of familial connection a brood of quirky relatives, effervescent college friends, ghosts emerging from the past, a determined little mouse, and even the very group of new neighbours whose presence has shaken Rundle Junction to its core.</p>

Strangers and Cousins

Literature & Fiction

Contemporary

Riverhead

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Leah Hager Cohen. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Leah Hager Cohen

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Leah Hager Cohen. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Without Apology

Strangers and Cousins