The Butchers by Ruth Gilligan
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 unfolds, 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; Grá, the lonely wife of one of the eight; and her 12-year-old daughter, Úna, 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.
Ruth Gilligan is an Irish novelist and journalist and lectures at the University of Birmingham. She has written four novels, including the Irish bestsellers Forget and Nine Folds Make a Paper Swan. (Atlantic Books 2016). She writes and reviews for the Irish Times, the Irish Independent, the TLS and the Guardian.
Review
This is a very unique storyline about eight men who follow an old tradition of butchering meat in Ireland. Well really it’s about one families involvement with this group and how it affect their lives. It’s also set against the mad cow disease scandal in the UK and Ireland in the 1990s. It’s a harrowing but haunting tale of love, family life, loss, life and death, exploitation and retribution.
It follows the lives of Gra and Lena, sisters who have fallen out of touch and their families. Gra has married a Butcher and has a daughter called Una whose wish is to become a Butcher when she is old enough. Lena who ran off to be with Fionn, has a son Davey who is struggling with life and coming to terms with who he is.
I loved all the characters in this book - they were laid open so you could see all their inner desires and thoughts. Yes, certain important things were not shown, like the climax of the bar fight, or Davey having a sexual encounter for the first time. But you didn’t need to see these. The style of writing was to lure you in and care for these characters. They didn’t hide anything from you. My favourite has to be Davey. His coming of age story was so well handled with Con and the Butchers.
Does this count as a historical novel? Yes, it was less than 30 years ago but it transports you to another world. One you can’t know. I remember bits and bobs about the crisis but I was still at school when it happened. Maybe what counts as historical fiction is personal to you. For me it’s on the border. I think if I can remember the time in my life then it’s a contemporary novel but this novel is set an Ireland of which I know nothing of. However, whatever it is it’s special. I’m finding it hard to do justice to the story. Best you just go buy the book and find out as it’s brilliant.
