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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'San Francisco, 1856. Irish-born James ‘Yankee’ Sullivan is being held in jail by the Committee of Vigilance, which aims to rout the Australian criminals from the town. As Sullivan’s mistress, seeks his release and as his fellow prisoners are taken away to be hanged, the convict tells a story of triumph and tragedy: of his daring escape from penal servitude in Australia; how he became America’s most celebrated boxer; and how he met the true love of his life.'
Source : publisher's blurb
Notes
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Dedication: To my parents, for the roads there and the ways back.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Shadowboxing : The Story of an American Pugilist
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 441 2022; (p. 34)
— Review of The Sawdust House 2022 single work novel'In David Whish-Wilson’s new historical novel, The Sawdust House, it’s 1856 San Francisco, where the citizen-led Committee of Vigilance has convened to purge foreign undesirables from a city populace swollen beyond control by the gold rush. Of course, armed nativists ‘enthralled by their own performance’ are a common feature of U.S. history, from the Virginian lynch mobs of the late 1700s to that guy in the fuzzy Viking hat parading around the Capitol Building just last year. In an intriguing twist, however, the pitchforks are aimed this time at those ‘vermin from some hellish southern continent’, aka Australians, particularly a criminal element who congregate in a lawless quarter nicknamed Sydney-town.' (Introduction)
-
Shadowboxing : The Story of an American Pugilist
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 441 2022; (p. 34)
— Review of The Sawdust House 2022 single work novel'In David Whish-Wilson’s new historical novel, The Sawdust House, it’s 1856 San Francisco, where the citizen-led Committee of Vigilance has convened to purge foreign undesirables from a city populace swollen beyond control by the gold rush. Of course, armed nativists ‘enthralled by their own performance’ are a common feature of U.S. history, from the Virginian lynch mobs of the late 1700s to that guy in the fuzzy Viking hat parading around the Capitol Building just last year. In an intriguing twist, however, the pitchforks are aimed this time at those ‘vermin from some hellish southern continent’, aka Australians, particularly a criminal element who congregate in a lawless quarter nicknamed Sydney-town.' (Introduction)
Awards
- 2022 longlisted HNSA Historical Novel Prize — Adult
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San Francisco,
California,
cUnited States of America (USA),cAmericas,
- 1856
