Headshot

 By: Rita Bullwinkel 

Location: FIC BULL

Genre: Realistic Fiction and Boxing

An electrifying debut novel from an “unusually gifted writer” (Lorrie Moore) about the radical intimacy of physical competition

An unexpected tragedy at a community pool. A family’s unrelenting expectation of victory. The desire to gain or lose control; to make time speed up or stop; to be frighteningly, undeniably good at something. Each of the eight teenage girl boxers in this blistering debut novel has her own reasons for the sacrifices she has made to come to Reno, Nevada, to compete to be named the best in the country. Through a series of face-offs that are raw, ecstatic, and punctuated by flashes of humor and tenderness, prizewinning writer Rita Bullwinkel animates the competitors’ pasts and futures as they summon the emotion, imagination, and force of will required to win.

Frenetic, surprising, and strikingly original, Headshot is a portrait of the desire, envy, perfectionism, madness, and sheer physical pleasure that motivates young women to fight—even, and perhaps especially, when no one else is watching.

Review by Clare

This might be my sleeper hit of Booker season 2024. Although I know my enthusiasm isn’t shared by all, I really loved this gritty story of a young women’s boxing tournament in Reno. It is a story about 8 teenage, female boxers, and explores how they have found themselves in the sport, and in the ring in this tournament in front of a small audience. Bullwinkel’s story looks at how small and big moments in our lives lead to other, considers complex families, poverty, the trials of adolescence and identity, female aggression, and the issues in youth and women’s sport. It’s told in dispassionate, direct prose that reminded me often of Kick the Latch (which I also loved). Highly evocative of place, and very sensory. I think it would stand up well to a re-read. Not for everyone perhaps but lots to enjoy for some.