The Butcher

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.

About The Author:
Laura Kat Young is a writer and teacher living in Chicago with her family. Her works blend genres and seek to explore a deeper understanding of human behavior. The 2019-2021 Writer-in-Residence at the Ernest Hemingway Foundation, her works have appeared in The Blood Pudding, Shoreline of Infinity, The Lindenwood Review, and others. The Butcher is her debut novel.