Fight the Good Fight - Softcover

Catherine Fox is not your typical martial artist. Her initiation into the sacred rites of judo began not in a dojo in Tokyo but in the Tunnel Cement Works in Pitstone, Buckinghamshire. And her dedication to the sport has been questionable: a thirty-year sabbatical, two children and a life spent writing books does not necessarily prepare one for enlightenment. Determined not to let these details stand in her way, Catherine has set herself a challenge: before she turns forty-five she will become a black belt. After all, how many other opportunities do vicars' wives get to roll around the floor with sweaty blokes'. "Fight the Good Fight" is about a pilgrimage. It's about finding out what you're really made of, when you've not set yourself any genuine physical challenge since your school faced mighty Cheddington Primary in the netball clash of 1972. It's about toughness and pain and coming to terms with your limitations. But it's about much more than that. It's about the relationship women have with their bodies, about femininity and aggression, about the Way of the Sumarai versus the Anglican Way. Set to the greatest hits of "Hymns Ancient and Modern", "Fight the Good Fight" asks what lessons judo can teach you about life. It's touching, surprising, gripping (in every sense) - and the funniest take on spiritual struggle since the last Lions vs. Christians fixture.

Catherine Fox is the author of three novels - The Benefits of Passion, Love for the Lost and Angels and Men - as well as a series of humorous books arising out of her weekly column for The Church of England Newspaper. She lives in Lichfield with her husband, who is a canon at the cathedral, and their two sons.