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.
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[Even now, twenty-two years since he took the photograph, he still cannot quite believe the lack of blood]***
(@AtlanticBooks, 26 March 2020, 304 pages, ebook, #ARC from @AtlanticBooks and voluntarily reviewed, #BlogTour 17 April)
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I really thought this book was historical fiction. It has a tone to it that implies its set far back in the past. I had to remind myself most of the book is set in 1996 and some sections are set in 2018. Even though the vast chunk of the book is set in 1996, this is a different era which the author brings to vivid life with reference to things such as the BSE (mad cow disease) outbreak, Euro 1996, the Spice Girls, recent decriminalisation of homosexuality and divorce had also just been introduced. It felt like I was reading about ancient times. Maybe it's because the book is set in rural Ireland. I've never been there or read much fiction set there. The setting is brought to vivid, brilliant life. I got completely absorbed in the rural Irish setting and the almost supernatural myth of The Butchers, men who slaughter cattle according to ancient Irish traditions. The story is told from several different characters that are related in some way or other to The Butchers such as the wife of one of them and her daughter. The thread connecting all of the stories is a strange picture of a dead man, hanging from hooks by his feet, one of The Butchers. How did the man die? Why was he hung by the feet? This brilliant book combines so many things such as a coming-of-age-story, supernatural story and crime fiction. This is a staggering novel.
