Butcher

(Hardback)

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From one of our most accomplished storytellers, an extraordinary and arresting novel about a womens asylum in the nineteenth century, and a terrifying doctor who wants to change the world.
In this harrowing story based on authentic historical documents, we follow the career of Dr. Silas Weir, Father of Gyno-Psychiatry, as he ascends from professional anonymity to national renown. Humiliated by a procedure gone terribly wrong, Weir is forced to take a position at the New Jersey Asylum for Female Lunatics, where he reigns. There, he is allowed to continue his practice, unchecked for decades, making a name for himself by focusing on women who have been neglected by the statewomen he subjects to the most grotesque modes of experimentation. As he begins to establish himself as a pioneer of nineteenth-century surgery, Weirs ambition is fueled by his obsessive fascination with a young Irish indentured servant named Brigit, who becomes not only Weirs primary experimental subject, but also the agent of his destruction.

Narrated by Silas Weirs eldest son, who has repudiated his fathers brutal legacy, Butcher is a unique blend of fiction and fact, a nightmare voyage through the darkest regions of the American psyche conjoined, in its startling conclusion, with unexpected romance. Once again, Joyce Carol Oates has written a spellbinding novel confirming her position as one of our celebrated American visionaries of the imagination.

Simply the most consistently inventive, brilliant, curious and creative writer going, as far as Im concerned Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl

'A master storyteller' The Times

Reviews

'[Oates] takes this very real nightmare of [the father of gyno-psychiatry] and knits together a story about a young Irish servant who becomes Weirs subject, but also the object of his downfall. Sounds like the perfect American novel, delving deep into the horrors of invention' Lit Hub, 'Most Anticipated Books of 2024'

Praise for Joyce Carol Oates:

One of the greatest and most productive living American writers Financial Times

'Oates is a massive literary heavyweight, and many earnestly believe she could knock the other contenders for the title of Great American Novelist Updike, Roth, Wolfe, Mailer' Guardian

One of the greatest writers of our time John Gardner, author of Grendel

Oates' precise and inspired writing is close to witchcraft' Jeanne Moreau

[A] notoriously prolific chronicler of Americas cracked, calamitous heart Esquire

Americas preeminent fiction writer The New Yorker

Simply the most consistently inventive, brilliant, curious and creative writer going, as far as Im concerned Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl

'A master storyteller' The Times

Oatess imagination is as unique, dystopian and vivid as Lewis Carrolls Rose Tremain, author of Absolutely and Forever

Author Bio

Joyce Carol Oates is a recipient of the National Book Critics Circle Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Book Award and the PEN / Malamud Award, and has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Her books include We Were the Mulvaneys, Blonde, Carthage, A Book of American Martyrs and Hazards of Time Travel. She is Professor of Humanities at Princeton University.