Set somewhere between present and future, The Good Fight introduces a town bisected by a contaminated River, numb to its endless involvement in war, and peaceful - at the surface. The townspeople put no faith in the future and remember no past. Sam, an illiterate prizefighter, lives here with his veteran brother, Rig, and sister-in-law, Camila. Rig once upheld the sport's accompanying moral code. Now, Sam clings to it. But one day, Rig confides a secret to his wife. Heartbroken yet relieved, Camila agrees with his decision but cannot share the burden with anyone - even Sam, whom she had grown to love in her husband's absence. Sam and Camila are their own greatest temptations. Their love is sincere but wrought with confusion and hurt that deepen with Rig's choice. They must crash or repel, or else destroy themselves in limbo. Meanwhile, Lyons' peace unravels and the townspeople point fingers, at last realizing that they possess both the wound and the weapon. Ophelia Hu's debut novel gives us a moving portrait of self and circumstance, familiarizing the strange and estranging the familiar as the characters struggle to navigate a world that could be dystopian if it were not our own. The Good Fight captures tragic love and its more tragic absence, the burden of ignorance, and the audacity of forgiveness.
