The Butcher

By: Laura Kat Young

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Synopsis: A suspenseful small-town horror novel of oppression, heartbreak and buried anguish – Shirley Jackson meets Never Let Me Go with the wild west setting of Westworld.When Lady Mae turns 18, she'll inherit her mother's job as the Butcher: dismembering Settlement Five&’s guilty residents as payment for their petty crimes. An index finger taken for spreading salacious gossip, a foot for blasphemy, no one is exempt from punishment. But one day Winona refuses to butcher a six-year-old boy. So their leaders, known as the Deputies, come to Lady Mae&’s house, and, right there in the living room, murder her mother for refusing her duties. Within twenty-four hours, now alone in the world, Lady Mae begins her new job. But a chance meeting years later puts her face to face with the Deputy that murdered her mother. Now Lady Mae must choose: will she flee, and start another life in the desolate mountains, forever running? Or will she seek vengeance for her mother&’s death even if it kills her? A devastating, alarming page-turner infused with melancholy, humanity – and society&’s maddening acceptance in the face of horror.