The Lady Butchers

Butchers by day, vigilantes by night…

Wickedly funny and deeply feminist, The Lady Butchers is the electrifying debut novel from Sophie Demange, who deftly grasps the dangers women still face today with a darkly comic twist.

Anne and her best friend Stacey have always wanted to have their own butcher shop—modern, pink, brightly lit, different from your normal butcher shop—and that’s just what they open in the heart of Rouen, a French provincial town. This formidable duo soon become a trio following the arrival of the talented Michèle, originally from Guinea in Western Africa.

But these lady butchers share more than just their profession, they form a special sort of sorority, united around vengeance. All three of them have been victims of violence at the hands of men: for Anne, the unwanted attention of her incestuous father; Stacey, the cruelty of the men who pay for her services; Michèle, the bigotry of homophobes and racists…. And although they have survived, they have not forgotten.

They are all-powerful within the walls of their butcher shop—it’s their territory. So, when the man Stacey is seeing assaults her at work, their collective reaction is swift and deadly. After a period of regret and doubt, the lady butchers come to realize that they have already suffered enough at the hands of men, and that those who transgress—the rapists, the accomplices, the liars and the abusers—will pay for their crimes with their lives.

As several other men disappear, the locals begin to voice their suspicions. The three lady butchers are watching closely for the next man to step out of line, but they also start to feel the police slowly closing in…