About “A Thousand Blows” in a few words:

A Thousand Blows throws you into Victorian London’s underground boxing scene — dirty rings, bare knuckles, and even dirtier deals. It follows outsiders, hustlers, and fighters scraping their way up in a city that gives nothing for free. Power, class, loyalty, and violence all collide as people fight not just for money, but for identity and survival in a world stacked against them.

Meet the characters from A Thousand Blows

Hezekiah Moscow

Hezekiah is this huge, impossible burst of energy — a fighter and a dreamer who seems like he was stitched together from pure stubbornness and charisma. He’s brave in a showy, sometimes recklessly optimistic way, but also quietly clever when the chips are down (honestly, he’s smarter than he lets on). He’ll throw a punch and then apologize for being so loud, which is somehow the best thing about him. He cares fiercely about his crew and has this weird habit of humming to himself before a big moment, which is adorable and also slightly terrifying.

Mary Carr

Mary is the kind of person who runs a room with a look and a half-smile — fierce, maternal, and not afraid to say the unsayable, often with a teacup in hand. She’s warm and practical but also carries a private, stubborn grief that makes her decisions sharp and surprising; sometimes she is all softness, sometimes she’s a tucked blade. She collects buttons for reasons she’ll never fully explain (maybe for luck, maybe because she’s sentimental, or maybe because she’s preparing a tiny rebellion). You trust her before you realize she’s already five steps ahead, and then you love her for it.

Henry “Sugar” Goodson

Sugar is all charm and mischief, the kind of guy who could sell you a story and then punch a hole through it for dramatic effect — and you’d still clap at the end. He talks smooth, laughs easy, and somehow knows how to diffuse a room or detonate it, depending on his mood (which is adorkably unpredictable). Deep down he’s loyal as hell, a softer center under a flashy exterior, and he’s inexplicably into writing little poems on scraps of paper — or was that a lie to impress someone? He’s the friend you want in your corner and the one you should probably stop from making late-night bets, but you end up cheering anyway.

Esme Long

Esme is quietly ferocious in the best way, steady hands, sharp eyes, and a spine like iron wrapped in lace — she keeps things together when everything is falling apart. She’s practical, fierce for the people she loves, and deeply moral in a way that sometimes makes her sound like she’s giving a sermon (but in a good way), and also she keeps a ridiculous stash of candy for emergencies. She can be tender and terrifying depending on who crosses her path; she’ll stitch you up and then tell you off, possibly while knitting. There’s an old-soul vibe to her that clashes wonderfully with little modern quirks, like an obsession with keeping perfectly straight handwriting.

Belle Downer

Belle is sharp, glamorous, and low-key ruthless — the kind of presence that makes people straighten up without knowing why, and also hums old music in the background like a villainous lullaby. She’s classy but complicated, a strategist with a sweet smile and a gossip-loving streak; she keeps secrets like jewelry and sometimes wears them. Somehow she’s both intimidating and oddly comforting, like a velvet glove with brass knuckles inside, and she probably drinks tea from an overdecorated cup at three in the morning. She’s dramatic when she wants to be, but she also does the small, stubborn things that actually change lives, which is… secretly what makes her terrifyingly effective.