Battle Annie: The Queen of Hell’s Kitchen
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Published by: Prism Light Press
Release Date: September 3, 2024
Pages: 213
ISBN13: 979-8-9909382-0-5
No woman in Hell's Kitchen is as tough as Battle Annie. Known as the sweetheart of the notorious Gopher gang, Annie makes a living as a brick hurler and brawler, always working for the highest bidder during the railroad strikes of the 1890s. An orphaned girl named Cora endures the brutal life of a guttersnipe on the street. Her only hope for survival is serving as Annie's helper during the brawls.
After an encounter with the famous socialist Eugene Debs, Annie has second thoughts about hurling bricks against striking workers. Those second thoughts lead to trouble when a rival comes for Annie's throne and a powerful railroad executive wants more from Annie than he's paid for. When she's falsely accused of murder, Annie flees New York with Cora in tow. Hiding in plain sight, they pass themselves off as a respectable milliner and her orphaned niece. But eventually Annie's past catches up to her and she must run again or face the electric chair. Cora will need to shed the trappings of her new life in order to save Annie, but Hell's Kitchen is in her blood. Without anyone around to guide her, will she abandon Annie and return to a desperate life in the rookery where she was once a guttersnipe? And will Annie be executed for a crime she didn't commit?
Praise
"What a glorious read! Battle Annie: The Queen of Hell's Kitchen brings the fiercest woman in old New York to life, leading a ruthless girl gang on a fabulous and wild adventure through the city's gritty underworld. Packed with action, compelling characters, and a relentless quest for revenge, this is a must-read thrill ride." -- Kim Taylor Blakemore, bestselling author of After Alice Fell
"I thoroughly enjoyed this unusual novel about a gang of women in the poverty-ridden streets of New York. Battle Annie, a woman of strong will and intelligence, is falsely accused of murder and must go on the lam. Strong characters and a strong plot - highly recommended." -- Deborah Swift, author of The Shadow Network
Excerpt:
Murph handed me his wooden mallet and said, “It’s all yours till noon, Annie. Then your harpies better make way for the boys. I can’t turn away paying customers.”
“We’ll be done by then,” I said, eyeing the Lady Gophers, slouched on bar stools, crowded around the rickety tables and then some what was standing against the walls as if to keep the bricks from falling. The room reeked of cheap perfume layered atop the smell of floorboards sodden with beer and rat piss.
Stumpy Malarkey stuck his head inside the door and looked around.
“May the devil break me feckin’ legs,” he said. “You got a full house, my girl.”
I shrugged. These gals were just the tip of the spear. Each of ’em had between thirty and fifty brick hurlers — young and old — she’d be bringing with her when the time came. My ladies loved to rumble.
