By Sarah Elizabeth Cox
THE DEVIL’S DANCE FLOOR – FEBRUARY 2027
THE DEVIL’S DANCE FLOOR is a hardback about hard men in hard times, a group biography of eight pugilists from different parts of the world who lived and fought – within the boxing ring and out of it – in 1880s London.
Through each man’s story, THE DEVIL’S DANCE FLOOR looks at subjects and themes that include the law, migration, mental and physical healthcare, journalism and entertainment, showing how rapidly society changed over the course of the Late-Victorian period.
It is a book about prize-fighters, policemen, press men (and a puma), which uses a narrative approach to chart the fall in popularity or prevalence of bareknuckle boxing over the 1880s and explain the reasons for this decline.
My working title (subject to change, as is everything at this stage!) is THE DEVIL’S DANCE FLOOR – Hezekiah Moscow and The Fight for Life in Late-Victorian London.
It will be published by Duckworth in February 2027 (TBC).
THE CAST LIST >> / Albert Pearce / Alec Munroe / Alf Ball / Bertram Young and Violet Stanley / Billy and Mrs Noon / Constantine Morris / Denny Harrington / Ellen and James Bevan / Ellen Birch / Felix Scott / George Brown / Henry ‘Sugar’ Goodson / Hezekiah Moscow / Jack Davenport / Jack Wannop / Jem Haines / Jem Smith / John ‘The Greenwich Bruiser’ Smith / John Willie Price / Juno May / Plantagenet Green / Punch Lewis / Sam Sloper / Sisters Mills / Steve The Donkey / Tom Thompson / Walter ‘The Cross-Buttocker’ Armstrong /
Rediscovering the wrestlers and boxers of Late-Victorian London 