Henry Nissen was a champion boxer, the boy from Amess Street in working-class Carlton who fought his way up to beat some of the world’s best in the 1970s. Now, he works on the Melbourne docks, loading and unloading, taking shifts as they come up. But his real work is on the streets, working to give the disaffected another chance.

The Fighter is Arnold Zable’s account of this true battler—a man who used his fists to forge a career, but also his wits to negotiate a childhood in a community of Holocaust survivors, immigrants and damaged souls.

Arnold Zable is a highly acclaimed novelist, storyteller, educator and human rights advocate. His books include Jewels and Ashes, The Fig Tree, Café Scheherazade, Scraps of Heaven, Sea of Many Returns and Violin Lessons.