Book Synopsis:
A photograph is hung on a gallery wall for the very first time since it was taken two decades before. It shows a slaughter house in rural Ireland, a painting of the Virgin Mary on the wall, a meat hook suspended from the ceiling – and, from its sharp point, the lifeless body of a man hanging by his feet.
The story of who he is and how he got there casts back into Irish folklore, of widows cursing the land and of the men who slaughter its cattle by hand. But modern Ireland is distrustful of ancient traditions, and as the BSE crisis in England presents get-rich opportunities in Ireland, few care about The Butchers, the eight men who roam the country, slaughtering the cows of those who still have faith in the old ways. Few care, that is, except for Fionn, the husband of a dying woman who still believes; their son Davey, who has fallen in love with the youngest of the Butchers; Gra, the lonely wife of one of the eight; and her 12-year-old daughter, Una, a girl who will grow up to carry a knife like her father, and who will be the one finally to avenge the man in the photograph.
The Butchers is available in ebook and hardback now. You can purchase your copy using the link below.
My Review:
The Butchers is a very clever, gripping read which I think would make a great book club read as there would be lots to discuss.
I think I can safely say that I have never read another book about butchery so I found it very interesting to learn more about it, particularly all the old myths and traditions surrounding it. I’d also never heard of The Irish Mafia before so that was a bit of an eye opener! I’m actually old enough to have lived through the BSE crisis and I remember well the panic over it, especially as everyone went vegetarian for a few months. I knew that it had a huge impact on farmers but had never had the opportunity to hear about the crisis from their point of view before. It was actually quite poignant to see how much it affected them and not just from a monetary point of view.
The author does a great job of setting the scene in this book so that the reader feels transported back to 1996. It was a bit of a trip down memory lane for me at times with all the great pop references and news events that I remember happening. Ireland was going through quite a transitional period at that time and I found it interesting to see the struggle between the traditional views, involving religion and gender, with their attempts of modernisation.
Overall I thought this was a well plotted, atmospheric read which I found very hard to put down. I loved the slow revealing of all the secrets and the twists which took me completely by surprise. The change in point of view helped keep the story fresh and kept my interest as it always revealed something new. My only slight quibble with this book is in not sure I’d class it as historical fiction as I think its too recent. I’ve been wracking my brain to think what I’d call it and I agree with a few other reviewers that I think it’s more of a coming of age story. Either way it’s still an incredibly good read!
Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Atlantic books for my copy of this book.
About The Author:
Ruth Gilligan is an Irish novelist and journalist, and lectures at the University of Birmingham. She has written four novels, including the Irish bestsellers Forget and Nine Folds Make a Paper Swan, and she writes and reviews for the Irish Times, the Irish Independent, the TLS and the Guardian.
Over The Rainbow Blog 