When nineteen-year-old Aki throws her first punch, the respectable ‘good girl’ discovers she’s a fighter. But who is she trying to beat?
Good girl, good student, good daughter: Aki has always done what her loving but demanding multiracial family expects. Far from her Vancouver home, she adjusts to life in London—studies, friends and a relationship with a closeted South Asian woman.
Life is demanding, but Aki is coping until a violent incident triggers an unexpected response in the young Japanese-Latina woman. When she discovers that brutal bar-fighting relieves her stress, she begins a dangerous dual existence—obedient and accommodating by day and brawling by night.
This is a novel about the need to reconcile competing cultures, traditions and values that also explores issues of sexual identity and violence.
Published May 2023 by Tidewater Press
Reviews
Kevin Chong, author of The Double Life of Benson Yu
Sasagawa writes like a fighter: nimble and devastating
“…a bold and gripping tale of identity, love and a poignant exploration of self.”
Chelene Knight, author of Junie
“…this novel takes the queer experience by its horns, and tames it for the readers on the page. It’s a bright and wonderful debut.”
Danny Ramadan, author of The Foghorn Echoes
Emi Sasagawa 