First published 2018
Horace Hopper stands at the edge of the Nevada sheep ranch that raised him. The Reeses took him in as a boy and planned to pass the land to him, but Horace feels the weight of not belonging. His mixed Paiute and Irish blood marks him as different. His birth parents abandoned him. Now he dreams of boxing glory that might finally prove his worth. He leaves the only family he has known and travels to Tucson. There he reinvents himself as Hector Hildago, a Mexican fighter with a new identity to match his ambitions. The training is brutal. The fights take him through the Southwest and into Mexico. Each bout brings him closer to his goal but further from home. Mr. Reese, now seventy-two with a failing back, struggles to keep the ranch alive without him. Horace pushes toward Las Vegas and the championship that will validate his existence. But the ring teaches him lessons he never expected about identity and belonging.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, sports
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, reinvention, second-chance
Setting: Nevada, Tucson, Southwest, Mexico, Las Vegas
Period: Contemporary
304 pages · Paperback · Faber & Faber