Janet Ellis

Anne Jaccob is coming of age in late eighteenth-century London, the daughter of a wealthy merchant. When she is taken advantage of by her tutor -- a great friend of her father's -- and is set up to marry a squeamish snob named Simeon Onions, she begins to realize just how powerless she is in Victorian society. Anne is watchful, cunning, and bored. Her saviour appears in the form of Fub, the butcher's boy. Their romance is both a great spur and an excitement. Anne knows she is doomed to a loveless marriage to Onions and she is determined to escape with Fub and be his mistress. But will Fub ultimately be her salvation or damnation? And how far will she go to get what she wants? Dark and sweeping, The Butcher's Hook is a richly textured debut featuring one of the most memorable characters in fiction.

The Butcher's Hook

'IMMERSIVE, AMAZING, REMARKABLE' MARIAN KEYES 'WONDERFUL' EMMA KENNEDY 'JANET ELLIS WRITES WITH TENDERNESS AND WISDOM' ERIN KELLY 'AN ATMOSPHERIC, CLEVER NOVEL THAT WILL GET UNDER YOUR SKIN' RED Marion Deacon sits by the hospital bed of her dying husband, Michael. Outwardly she is, as she says, an unremarkable old woman. She has long concealed her history - and her feelings - from the casual observer. But as she sits by Michael's bed, she's haunted by memories from almost forty years ago . . . Marion Deacon is a wife and mother, and not particularly good at being either. It's the 1970s and in her small village the Swinging 60s, the wave of feminism, the prospect of an exciting life, have all swerved past her. Reading her teenage daughter's diary, it seems that Sarah is on the threshold of getting everything her mother Marion was denied, and Marion cannot bear it - what she does next has terrible and heart-breaking consequences for the whole family. Janet Ellis writes of the exquisite pain of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, the complexity of family and a mother-daughter relationship that is as memorable as it is utterly believable. 'ELLIS WRITES BEAUTIFULLY' DAILY MAIL 'AN EMOTIONAL EPIC' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING 'AFFECTING, ENGAGING AND READABLE' OBSERVER 'A TALE OF SILENCES, SECRETS AND MISUNDERSTANDINGS' MAIL ON SUNDAY 'ENGROSSING' MIRROR

The New Novel from the Author of the Butcher's Hook

How It Was

Butcher's Hook

***LONGLISTED FOR THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE 2016*** 'KNOWS HOW TO KEEP HER AUDIENCE HOOKED' The Times 'A MASTERFUL STORYTELLER' Clare Mackintosh 'DARK, WEIRD AND GLORIOUSLY FEMINIST' Elle Georgian London, in the summer of 1763. At nineteen, Anne Jaccob, the elder daughter of well-to-do parents, meets Fub the butcher's apprentice and is awakened to the possibilities of joy and passion. Anne lives a sheltered life: her home is a miserable place and her parents have already chosen a more suitable husband for her than Fub. But Anne is an unusual young woman and is determined to pursue her own happiness in her own way... ...even if that means getting a little blood on her hands. 'A SHARP EYE AND A SHARPER WIT' Guardian 'A SPIRITED, DARK DEBUT' Woman & Home 'STRANGE, DARK AND UTTERLY MESMERIC' Hannah Kent *And Janet Ellis's second, darkly compelling novel, How It Was, is out now*

a dark and twisted tale of Georgian London

Set in Georgian London, the dark and twisted tale of a young girl who determines to take her destiny into her own hands—no matter the cost. London, summer 1763. At nineteen, Anne Jaccob is awakened to the possibility of joy when she meets Fub, the butcher's apprentice, and begins to imagine a life of passion with him. The only daughter of well-to-do parents, Anne lives a sheltered life. Her home is a miserable place. Though her family want for nothing, her father is uncaring, her mother is ailing, and the baby brother who taught her to love is dead. Unfortunately her parents have already chosen a more suitable husband for her than Fub. But Anne is a determined young woman, with an idiosyncratic moral compass. In the matter of pursuing her own happiness, she shows no fear or hesitation. Even if it means getting a little blood on her hands. A vivid and surprising tale, The Butcher's Hook brims with the color and atmosphere of Georgian London, as seen through the eyes of a strange and memorable young woman.

The Butcher's Hook: A Novel

Anne Jaccob is coming of age in late eighteenth-century London, the daughter of a wealthy merchant. When she is taken advantage of by her tutor — a great friend of her father’s — and is set up to marry a squeamish snob named Simeon Onions, she begins to realize just how powerless she is in Victorian society. Anne is watchful, cunning, and bored. Her saviour appears in the form of Fub, the butcher’s boy. Their romance is both a great spur and an excitement. Anne knows she is doomed to a loveless marriage to Onions and she is determined to escape with Fub and be his mistress. But will Fub ultimately be her salvation or damnation? And how far will she go to get what she wants? Dark and sweeping, The Butcher’s Hook is a richly textured debut featuring one of the most memorable characters in fiction.

Janet Ellis

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