Eleanor Morse captures the magic of the African landscape and the terror and degradation of life under apartheid in White Dog Fell from the Sky . . . tense and heartfelt

Magic, friendship, the tragedy of apartheid and the triumph of loyalty are recounted in poetic, powerful prose by this unconventional and intelligent writer. Shattering and uplifting

There are not enough adjectives to describe the strength of this story . . . Eleanor Morse's story is emotionally riveting, heartbreaking, and at times unbearable, while simultaneously embracing hope, insight, and a sense of perpetual mystery . . . Each sentence is more beautiful than the last

Exceptional . . . Morse writes with passion and lyricism as she conveys hope and resilience in the face of terror

Morse's third novel . . . weaves together Isaac and Alice's stories in strikingly vivid scenes laced with lyrical language. Her sentences are short, flashing with colour, choked by dry dust, made tense by thunder and slaked by long-awaited rain . . . This is a portrait of longing that speaks less about the state of Africa and more about moral and political blindness, grief and courage

She's not a showy writer, beckoning the reader into her world through character and incident rather than ambitious descriptive passages. Unflinchingly frank about the horrors of South Africa under apartheid . . . a novel with at least one love story at its heart, balancing cruelty and tenderness

A heartfelt, unforgettable picture of life in the time of apartheid

This story is just as much about territory and escaping who you are, as it is about boxing. Full of sober realism and broken dreams, she's got the sort of narrative that would make Shane Meadows sit up.

A powerful debut from a talented new writer, filled with blood, sweat and tears.

Bare-knuckle fiction – tough, tender and lyrical. A fine first novel

A tremendous debut -- lean but capacious, elegant but tough, tempered but resonant. It marks the arrival of an important new talent.

Anna Whitwham's own East Side Story, set between two rival families in Clapton, is a vivid evocation of the worlds of old and new London, of the tribal immigrant experience built between boxing gym, tenement and canal bank. By turns brutal and beautiful, tender and dangerous, Boxer Handsome is a visceral and luminous debut.

Boxer Handsome is a story told in hope's shadow, where life, organised and disorganised, scars. This is a compelling novel - brutal, tender and true.

So good it hurts. Anna Whitwham joins the very best to have written about boxing: F.X. Toole, Joyce Carol Oates, Harry Crews and Norman Mailer.

Anna Whitwham's debut novel doesn't pull its punches. Well-written and worth watching

Rich in detail and elegantly written... Whitwham has considerable talent

The fights are described in glorious visceral detail but this unconventional love story is just about the ducks and dives as much as it is about the hits and wins. Whitwham's East Side Story packs a punch, and is a knockout debut her family could only be proud of

Here is a book that deals with its milieu head-on, and doesn't shrink from demonstrating that the ill-health and trauma experienced in these communities is genuine... This is a book that is truly written from within, and is therefore a powerful antidote to the snobbery infecting much of the clamour around how a large section of society is portrayed

Impressive… Gives voice to the furious, restrained beauty inherent in rigid masculinity… Whitwham certainly packs a punch

A compelling debut novel which beautifully explores the heart, physicality and working-class origins of boxing in East London