After the Count

Convery's clear, sharp prose, steady gaze, and willingness to tangle with the complexities of violence make this a gripping read. After the Count is a thorough, unflinching investigation that will change the way you think about sport.

Jennifer Mills

With the empathy of an insider and the acuity of an outsider, Stephanie Convery’s investigation into the morally ambiguous world of boxing is a gripping read. Convery approaches the gnarly intersection between law, medicine, sport and the culture of violence with intelligence, insight and a lightness of touch that belies the brutal subject of her masterful account. A total knockout of a book!

Clare Wright

Convery skilfully intertwines her own experience with Browne’s story, along with questions around the sport of boxing itself: its contentious history, issues of gender and class, the hidden dangers of concussion and the rise of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). All the while, Convery has a light touch and never loses sight of the much-loved boxer felled before his time. After the Count is a fitting tribute to Browne and a worthy addition to the annals of sporting literature.

Julia Taylor, Books + Publishing

I was startled to read such a fine piece of journalism. I turned each page waiting for Convery’s precise and observant writing to unravel, or her arguments to spin off into earnest, censorial platitudes. I expected her to trip over her own cleverness and land flat on her learning — I mean, who the hell quotes Marx and Foucault in a book about a fight at Ingleburn RSL? — but she stayed on her feet right through to the end. Her ­reportage strikes a note-perfect tone between compassion, curiosity, indignation and the journalist’s responsibility — and, let’s face it, egocentric hunger — to get the full story. Her descriptions of the witnesses are clear-eyed, economical and compassionate. Convery has a lot to teach. She had me think more deeply about ideas I’ve been turning over for years and offered new ways of looking at behaviour I’ve been watching all my life. She even made me want to read Foucault. There’s not much more you can ask of a book.

Mark Dapin, The Australian

You could say it was written from the heart, but with the head. Convery evocatively sets the story in its downmarket milieu without ever sneering at it. She wouldn't; elsewhere in the book, she happily inhabits a grungy corner of it. It means that although she works herself up about the good and bad in boxing, she does not preach. Her book is full of zeal, not zealotry.

Greg Baum, The Age

In After the Count: The Death of Davey Browne, a devastating and lucid piece of creative non-fiction, journalist and amateur boxer Stephanie Convery is determined to ensure nobody gets off that easily. The author’s refusal to take things at face value leads her to challenge other received wisdom about gender, class and the role of violence. That might sound like weighty subject matter for a 280-page paperback about a fight at a western Sydney RSL, but she writes with an unassuming clarity that makes these sections the best in the book. Even if you disagree with Convery’s belief that boxing can be made safer, her book will force you to re-examine your assumptions. After the Count isn’t just for fight fans, but for fans of thoughtful Australian writing.

Alex McClintock, The Sydney Morning Herald

A forensically detailed account of circumstances surrounding Browne’s unexpected demise. Convery’s own story is woven into the narrative, and the tension she feels at being both drawn to and repulsed by the inherent brutality is explored at the same time as Browne’s tale. As a female boxer, she’d had to confront and subvert traditional notions of the meek and weak "fairer sex" and conquer the belief in some traditional hearts that women shouldn’t be attracted to let alone participate in this bloody, visceral sport.

Thuy On, The Age

I never thought I’d get through, let along enjoy, a book about boxing, but Stephanie Convery has delivered a knockout read with After the Count, a fascinating blend of investigative journalism and memoir which dissects the brutal intersection between law, medicine, sport, gender and the culture of violence. Not so niche after all.

Clare Wright, The Australian, Books of the Year

Guardian Australia’s deputy culture editor, Stephanie Convery, has a great many past-times: she sings, she knits, she birds, she does extreme exercise – and she also boxes. It’s this personal connection that drew her to the story of Davey Browne: the 28-year-old boxer who was knocked out and died in the final minutes of a regional championship fight held at an RSL in western Sydney in 2015. Convery sets out to discover who was responsible for his death in this meticulously reported and balanced book, which blends fact, history and the voices of those involved with her own experience and passion for the sport. Ultimately – unsurprisingly – there’s no one person to point the finger at (“not I, says the referee ... not us, says the angry crowd ... not me, says his manager”, as Bob Dylan would put it), but instead a widespread misunderstanding of the rules, and a larger systemic issue: the sporting world has been glossing over the symptoms and risks of repeated brain injury for far too long. This beautifully written and well-argued book had me from start to finish.

Steph Harmon, Guardian, books of the year