Girl Fighter

Aliyah is a cage fighter. Subverting the stereotyped idea of a Mixed Martial Artist, she works as a software engineer in London. Her life in a male dominated environment is fraught with challenges caused by her race and gender and aggravated by her childhood trauma and consequent aloofness. This is embodied in the character Jeremy, a co-worker who relentlessly taunts and bullies Aliyah. The story begins one month prior to her debut cage fight. Aliyah works hard to balance her demanding job and training regime. At the night of the fight, the three-round tournament sees Aliyah suffering multiple head-concussions, resulting in an accident.

The second part, 'Fighter', portrays Aliyah's struggle with the symptoms of her brain injury and complications of her diagnosis. Following hospital discharge, her brain function declines, jeopardising her work and comfortable urban life. Ultimately, the injury leads to a violent episode and she loses everything important to her.

The story examines prejudices about mental disorders and challenges the way invisible illness is often dismissed as merely psychosomatic.

A book video trailer available at: https://youtu.be/oiucOuDOtqA