The Butcher's Daughter

Shortlisted for the WINSTON GRAHAM HISTORICAL FICTION PRIZE 2018

A SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR

The Butcher s Daughter is the richly atmospheric story of a young woman s struggle to define herself in a world of uncertainty, intrigue and danger during a period of great upheaval: the Tudor era.

It is 1535 and Agnes Peppin, daughter of a West Country butcher, leaves her family home in disgrace. Banished and forced to abandon her new-born infant, she appears destined to live out her days cloistered behind the walls of the Shaftesbury Abbey. But as Agnes grapples with the complex rules and hierarchies of her new life, King Henry VIII has proclaimed himself the new head of the Church. Religious houses are being formally suppressed and the great Abbey is no exception to the purge.

Agnes journey from the Abbey leads her into strange territory, where her experiences of sexual passion, delusion, shattering grief and grotesque violence come together in an England ruled by the whims of ambitious men and strained by bloody revolts. Free at last to be the master of her own fate, Agnes descends into a world she knows little about, using her wits and testing her moral convictions against her need to survive - by any means necessary...

The Butcher s Daughter is a work of dizzying imagination underpinned by years of research from multi-award-winning author Victoria Glendinning.

***PRAISE FOR THE BUTCHER S DAUGHTER*** 'Glendinning writes with a vivid immediacy about a fascinating, dark moment in our island story... a refreshing and original tale.' The Times

'A must for anyone interested in the Tudor period.' Elizabeth Fremantle

'A brave girl, a powerful tale, a world on the brink of change and how the past leaps into life!' Fay Weldon

'A powerful and very immediate picture of another age. It is full of violence and loss, and yet it is also a testament to survival, courage, pity, and the eternal beauty to be found in small things.' Anne Perry

'An immersive, engrossing, and epic journey of a woman s soul, finely researched and beautifully written.' Margaret George, author of The Autobiography of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I

'A beguiling, affecting tale of dissolution and redemption set in a changing and beautifully wrought Tudor landscape. Gloriously authentic and refreshingly unromantic, this one got under my skin.' Jessie Child, historian and author of Henry VIII s Last Victim

'Absorbing and evocative... Glendinning finds the extraordinary in ordinary lives and has brought a turbulent period into vivid, colourful life.' Donna Douglas, author of the Nightingale Girls series

'An absolute pleasure... assured, quietly gripping, surprising and educative, with a terrific central character, it pins down the precarious nature of life in 16th-century England.' Daily Mail

'As the butcher s daughter reflects on all she sees, Glendinning makes this tale exhilarating, lending Agnes a candid, eccentrically lyrical voice.' Jean Zimmerman, New York Times

'The historical detail of the novel is completely believable and meticulously researched. This is an unusual and thought-provoking novel which is recommended particularly for fans of Wolf Hall.' Historical Novel Society

'Through the experiences of Agnes and others, Glendinning thoughtfully explores womanhood s many facets.' Booklist