Author(s): Ruth Gilligan

Novel

The first novel truly to capture the story of Ireland during the BSE crisis, shown through the small, deeply intimate stories of four people caught up in its churn.

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.

Review: Flawlessly, intricately plotted, but with such a compelling central mystery that I binged it like a Netflix show... The Butchers is deeply humane and astute on why we might take even the worst options available to us, at times deeply poignant and genuinely moving. It's stunning. * Luke Kennard, author of The Transition *
The Butchers by Ruth Gilligan is a funny, sad, beautiful book that asks how you make a new life when your world changes. So much is packed into these pages about family, about greed, about love, and about desperation. Oh and it has the perfect ending. * Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, author of Harmless Like You and Starling Days *
This is a remarkable novel. The story is utterly compelling and the characters so well-drawn I found myself reading faster and faster as the plot progressed. Gilligan paints a disturbing portrait of rural Ireland which is both modern and ancient, firmly grounded in the realistic and hauntingly otherworldly. * Jan Carson, author of The Fire Starters *
Immensely readable and written with great flair * Irish Independent, on Nine Folds Make a Paper Swan *
Rich in plot and full of characters that have been neglected by Irish literature * Guardian, on Nine Folds Make a Paper Swan *
Reminiscent of Tea Obreht, Nicole Krauss and Maggie O'Farrell... Wonderful * Colum McCann, on Nine Folds Make a Paper Swan *
A rich and layered story of the complications, the mistakes and the heartbreaks of which a human life is made... I haven't read anything like it. * Belinda McKeon, on Nine Folds Make a Paper Swan *
Graceful, confident, vivid... I loved this beautifully written novel * Joseph O'Connor, on Nine Folds Make a Paper Swan *
Immersive... Gilligan is a writer I admire * Jess Kidd, Daily Mail *

Author Biography: Ruth Gilligan is an Irish novelist and journalist. She has written four novels, including the Irish bestsellers Forget and Nine Folds Make a Paper Swan. She writes and reviews for the Irish Times, the Irish Independent, the TLS and the Guardian.