Butcher: A novel

By: Joyce Carol Oates

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Synopsis: From one of our most accomplished storytellers, an extraordinary and arresting novel about a women&’s asylum in the nineteenth century, and a terrifying doctor who wants to change the worldIn this harrowing story based on authentic historical documents, we follow the career of Dr.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 state—women he subjects to the most grotesque modes of experimentation. As he begins to establish himself as a pioneer of nineteenth-century surgery, Weir&’s ambition is fueled by his obsessive fascination with a young Irish indentured servant named Brigit, who becomes not only Weir&’s primary experimental subject, but also the agent of his destruction.Narrated by Silas Weir&’s eldest son, who has repudiated his father&’s 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.