March book club - The Butcher's Hook

I think I must be the only one who didn't like the book. I found it hard to get on the side of the heroine and the style of writing was not for me. Sorry!

The novel is written in the first person narrative, which I find difficult to get into but once I got my head around that, I found I was really enjoying it.

I love the way Janet uses the vocabulary to describe Anne's thoughts and feelings. I know exactly what she means.

Anne Jaccob is a child starved of love by her stern father and a mother who has lost so many pregnancies that she is perpetually bed-ridden. The latest sickly child, a girl, seeming to take all her love.

Anne is sexually abused by her teacher as a child and this seems to put her on a path of destruction. She has no empathy and deals with anything that gets in the way of her lustful relationship with Fub, the butcher's boy, in a very final but imaginative way. This she can do with impunity because of the lack of any technology in the mid 18th century. Eventually she realises she doesn't want Fub either and has only been using him.

I understand why the story has Anne's mother giving her money so she can avoid a future with Onions and it does open it up for a sequel, but I don't think a wise mother would have done that in 1763. I guess that is artistic licence.

An alternative ending would be for Anne to marry Onions and then continue her black arts on him, which would make her a very wealthy woman and virtually untouchable.

However, if Onions has his spies tracking her and he knows exactly what she's doing, why does he still want to marry her? He knows she hates him and surely he can see a bit further than the end of his nose. His fate would be sealed if the wedding went ahead.

A good read.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

At the beginning I felt sorry for Anne and the restricted and lonely life she led. All the way through I was convinced that in the end she would have no choice but to marry the boring and odious Mr Onion. It is no wonder that she was infatuated with Fub, the butcher's boy.

However, Anne's character seems to have an unexpected transformation when she is revealed as being a psychopath who would do anything to achieve the thing she wants the most.

The end of the book was interesting and leaves the story open for a sequel.

My question to Janet is: will you write a sequel to this book, or will your next book be another story set in the same time period as The Butcher's Hook?

I shall definitely buy your next book.

A most enjoyable read, and as someone else suggested, the way is open for more about Anne Jaccobs in the future.
I found the descriptions of the city and street life, as well as that of the Jaccobs household very "real" and generally better than a TV drama set in the period( the characters are too clean and well fed!) The written word allows for a much better mental picture.
Anne was a suprise, changing through the course of the story from a suppressed, restricted life,to be driven by her lust for Fub to become totally unscrupulous to achieve her desires. Then her eyes are opened and she finds the object of her attentions isn't what she wants, but now she has discovered what she is capable of and won't hold back till she gets it.

The general outline of this story isn't original but Ellis has cleverly taken an old story and, by introducing a number of twists, has created a principal character who is quite unique.

At first we're encouraged to sympathise with Anne. She is caught in a trap like so many women in early 18th century Britain, she doesn't have a great deal of independence and her marriage will be arranged so that it suits the males concerned, her father and whoever he chooses for her to marry. (I say 'many women' as this was not the situation of working class women who would kill to be in such a situation of wealth and privilege. But stories about them would not press any feminist buttons.)

However, we soon get to see, by her descriptions of the people she despises (which is pretty much everyone) – although very well written – that Anne is very much an odious, poor little rich girl.

Ellis suggests that she got this way through a mixture of child abuse (the biggest effect on her of which was her being starved of education) and the high child mortality (the death of her brother years ago using up all the love she could have for her new baby sister). She, totally irrationally to my mind, unless we factor in sheer animal lust, falls madly in love with a butcher's assistant and how this 'love story' pans out is the core of the novel.

She may be intelligent but Anne's superior attitude towards others sometimes gets her close to disaster. She's not really a good student of human nature and as her exploits become more dangerous and become open knowledge to too many she continues to alienate those who could really scupper her activities. By the middle of the novel she is scraping through her assignations by the skin of her teeth – luck and chance being her only saviour.

Strangely, I thought she became more 'likeable' when she starts to deal with those obstacles that she perceives are in her way. Even here she can't be described as a good strategist. Because she doesn't have a master plan she is forced to react to circumstances rather than control events more closely. In the course of this her real character is revealed – in some ways mirroring the life Fanny Hill, whose 'autobiography' is referred to a couple of times. Like Fanny she starts out as an innocent but life changes her very quickly, Fanny by her acceptance of sex, Anne by dealing with nuisances.

Anne eventually gets what she wants – freedom from the restraints of family life – and she seems quite confident in facing the future. But she hasn't changed in many ways. Her act of kindness to the dying Jacobite is retracted once he breathes his last breath. She walks away to face an unknown future – this in itself being another area where Ellis has decided to subvert the normal convention of justice being seen to be done.

This is a very well written novel, with some clever description and, although I had to overcome my early antipathy to Anne, ended up enjoying the read.

Having recently read a novel by Celia Imrie, my first thoughts on receiving this novel by Janet Ellis were: ‘Oh no, not another actor attempting to write’. Celia Imrie’s novel, whilst a good example of ‘chick-lit’, and quite enjoyable in a holiday/beach-read type of way, could hardly be classed as quality literature. How wrong I was! This novel by Janet Ellis is amazing – especially as it is a first novel. I was ‘hooked’ from the start, and intrigued by the characters and the relationships. Not so much a ‘coming of age’ novel as a ‘coming of rage’ novel. Anne Jaccob though manages to maintain the sympathy of the reader, in spite of her outrageous actions. She is so vulnerable, and so starved of love and affection – a little bit like the young Jane Eyre, perhaps, at the beginning. All the characters were portrayed in an interesting way, from the rough butcher’s boy Fub to the revolting Mr Onions – interestingly a vegetarian! The female servants and Anne’s mother were given shadowy roles, as one might expect for females in the 18th century. Throughout I loved Ellis’ detailed observations and the dark imagery which permeates the novel. At first I was puzzled by the title (Butcher’s Hook = look in rhyming slang). But this seems to link in with Anne’s desire for attention and love, as well as in the blood and butchery images which run sordidly throughout. And the London setting, of course. The present tense also added to the urgency of the novel.
As for questions for Janet: I would love to know more about her creative writing course at Curtis Brown. And why was she so specific about the year in which it was set – 1763 – when this didn’t really link to any particular historical event? Also, I’m not sure that the division of the novel into 3 parts with the quotations from John Donne was really necessary – I’d love to hear why she did this. By the way, I loved the cover: the words of the title seemed to shimmer and leap off the front cover at me because of the gold/turquoise contrast – and the intriguing illustrations were wonderful – but why a hard back? This makes it more difficult to sneak into my handbag and read at odd moments.
I would definitely read more novels by Janet Ellis and hope that this is the start of a long writing career. What a contrast to ‘Blue Peter’! There are lots of unanswered questions – so perhaps a sequel? Many thanks, Janet. I thought I would struggle to read this before the end of the month, but I couldn't put it down!

I really enjoyed this vivid description of Georgian life.It really assaulted all the senses and painted an amazing picture with words. Quite unexpectedly took a turn to the darker side in the second half of the book.
Is Janet going to write a sequel? The ending seemed quite open to a follow up of the heroine's adventures.

You have clearly had a very colourful career so far, so what inspired you to start writing and why choose this particular time period?

Hi, Thanks so much for my copy of The Butchers Hook it only arrived last Saturday 19th. I will do my very best to read before end of month but have a family wedding over Easter weekend and my sister having knee replacement surgery today and I am her main carer so I a little pressed for time.

Just received yesterday and looking forward to a nice long reading session.
I would like to ask Janet about the creative writing course she took and how she felt it helped her. I am also interested to know why she chose this particular time period and what research she needed to do to give authenticity.

Thank you very much for the copy received yesterday,?
Will try start it but hope take on holiday ?

Hello Janet I am loving the book so far. I read somewhere that you submitted it under an alias and would love to know more about that

Me neither Galen ?

I didn't get one! I'm going off in a huff!

Thank you for the book.I agree with others,it will be difficult to finish it in time as it arrived late but will do my best.

I have just finished reading The Butchers Hook, and would like to ask Janet Ellis, that given the ending is it possible that we will be hearing more about Anne Jaccob? And why did she choose butchers as the subject! Blood certainly played a large part in this novel!
I enjoyed this novel and i think that the feeling of Georgian London was well described, especially the divide between the rich and poor, but I would liked to have learnt more about Anne's mother and fathers relationship. Also, I wonder what happens to Fub, will they meet up again, perhaps Anne makes a life for herself in another part of the country?
Thankyou Janet Ellis for writing this, an excellent first novel, you should be very proud of yourself!!

Many thanks for a copy of the book which arrived on 19th. I am about to start it and should finish it in a couple of days.

Hi Janet,
where do you get your ideas from? xx

I liked this book so much that I was unable to put it down, to the detriment of chores (who cares?) and have finished it.

I think we have a rival to Sarah Waters' books with this dark and gripping but in parts, humorous story. The violence shocks but doesn't detract from cheering on the heroine as she fights against the fate prescribed by her uncaring father.

I think this would make a brilliant TV drama and would like to ask Janet if there is any chance of that happening?

Thank you - my copy has just arrived! ( I missed the delivery on Friday and had to have it delivered today). It might be be a bit tight reading it before the end of next week!

Thought I would struggle to read this before the deadline, but it is so wonderful that I am already a third of the way through. A good excuse to ignore everything and just keep reading. Really enjoying it. Thank you for sending me this and extending my horizons!

I started reading it immediately, thinking it would be another of those girlie type books. how wrong I was. It is gripping.
At the beginning, one is overwhelmed with sorrow and pity for the 16 year old protagonist [I hesitate to call Anne the heroine] who is overtaken by lust for her butcher's boy, she does all sorts of unexpected things. slowly, one starts to turn against the scheming hussy.
i haven't quite finished yet, but I suspect the ending won't be pretty..
A hugely enjoyable and very unexpected read.
Thank you!

My copy arrived yesterday morning . I am thrilled as I couldn't even remember filling the entry form in. Thank you GNHQ.

I haven't been reading much lately as I have an awful lot going on but managed to get through quite a bit last night. I think I am going to enjoy it.

My copy arrived yesterday. I want to finish another book before I start this one. I will try hard to finish by the end of the month.