The Butcher's Hook by Janet Ellis

 

Author: Janet Ellis

Title: The Butcher's Hook

Publisher: Two Roads 

Published: 2016

Pages: 368

Genre: Historical Fiction 

     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.

     I came to learn about this book one night from watching Between the covers on Iplayer. And whilst not a regular viewer it's nice to watch an odd episode when I have nothing else on. Anyway, Whilst books set in the seventeen hundreds are not my usual go-to affair. I do love a good crime novel so you can't really argue with that. And here I was given the chance to step out of my usual reading tram lines and tackle something a bit different. I fear too often I tend to hunt out the same types of books and missing out on books I would love for silly reasons. 

    We are for the most part use to the male criminal lead, it is after all in our nature apparently! So sometimes it is interesting to step outside of those gender norms. What happens when nineteen-year-old Anna Jaccob is pushed into a dark and bloody life. From the outside, it would seem that Anne has all one could want for a well-to-do lady in the seventeen hundreds. But as is often the case it comes at a price. A gilded cage that for her is a prison that is not worth paying the price. Evermore so when she meets Fub. Who in his own way shows her a life so very different from her own. One which will allow her to escape those tight constraints and live life on her own terms. And for that matter to love whomever she chooses rather than who her father would pick for her. 

     Now for the most part this might sound like a lot of other novels out there. The sort of romance novels that do very well. Now whilst not my sort of reading, I do appreciate that there are a great many readers out there for whom this is exactly what they are looking for. but when it comes to The Butcher's Hook things do go off those rails with a spectacular bang. Anne in her own way has suffered throughout her early life. Those in her life who should show her warmth and caring side have either been cold and distant or have died leaving her alone. Is this enough to turn someone into a cold murderous rage, who can say? But I'm sure adding on top of that her isolation as was often the way back then can really help. In part, it leads to her having a limited understanding of how to interact with other people. It is through this haze of social understand she tries to navigate the world. But this can lead to some very troubling outcomes. 

     Anne is one of the amazing characters you come across so rarely that it makes them a little special. In part due to just how unlikable she becomes. But we as readers are drawn to her wickedness. you want to see just how far she is willing to go in order to reach her goals. In this case her one true love Fub. But it is often hard to tell just how genuine her love for him is and whether in fact, it is the idea of him that she so desperately craves.  I have to say I do love the complexity that Ellis has brought to her lead character. It seems we a locked in a train carriage with Anne knowing full well that at some point the breaks will fail and all of us will hurtle over the edge of some grand ravine to our bloody deaths.

       Now for me, gothic novels are not something I really go for. So feel free to call me out on this one but it does seem to tick all those boxes of what I think of when it comes to this style. It holds grand sweeping dark and twisted tales that not only seem to encapsulate their time but also how close death was to them all. We are confronted but the harsh realities of the seventeen hundreds all be it from a more affluent family. And whilst obviously one cannot condone all the actions Anne choice we are still drawn into her cold embrace. It is almost as if she has locked eyes with us and we fear to turn away. That in that split moment she will bring our lives to a brutal and bloody end. 

     This is very much a book of two halves and here it works well indeed.  Ellis shows herself to be very capable of bringing us in and make you want to say to the very end. It was a novel that really did surprise me. Whilst the premise sounded interesting, I was still a little nervous first going in. As so often is the case when you read outside your comfort zone. But for me, this book was a win from her style of writing. Which is so vivid and alive that you could feel the cold blast coming from under the door and the servants muttering as they busied themselves about the day. To a darkly complex narrator who some may see as a hero and to others a villain. But either way, she was going to tackle life on her own terms.