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A review by sophiehatters
The Butcher's Daughter by David Demchuk, Corinne Leigh Clark

dark emotional tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

“Of course, once the doctor made me vow never to step foot in his surgery, my curiosity drew me towards it. I wonder now if that was his intention, if he already knew me better than I knew myself.”

just as haunting as it is heartbreaking, the butcher’s daughter follows the story of the notorious character, mrs lovett through her correspondences with a well-to-do journalist, miss emily gibson. i’ll be honest, my knowledge of the original sweeney todd is quite limited. i distinctly remember watching the 2007 film on dvd with my mother, and feeling disgusted with the subject matter. other than that, i don’t remember much. therefore, i went into this almost completely blind. 

the book started out at a snail pace—there were a lot of lull moments, and the narrative also got me a little confused. i had to flip the pages back and forth a couple of times to ensure that i got the sender of some of the letters correctly. however, as i tried to follow the story, everything slowly came into place. the pace picked up, and i found that i simply couldn’t stop reading even if i wanted to. 

the authors’ interpretation of margaret lovett was absolutely fascinating to read. she felt so real to me that her voice even followed me in my sleep. literally! i loved that she was sympathetic, yet terrifying at the same time. there were times that i felt so heartbroken for her that i could just cry, but there were also times where she would do something that got me questioning her sanity. i know that some would argue that she was passive during her stint with sweeney todd, but you have to admit, the ease in which she settled into her life as a (human meat) butcher slash (human pie) baker was bone-chilling (no pun intended). she went from someone who wouldn’t hurt a fly, to an accomplice to a serial killer in 3 seconds flat. 

chronologically, the story follows margaret throughout a few phases in her life—as a butcher’s daughter, a maid, a companion/aide, and the famed baker at fleet street. some phases were longer than others, but each phases gave a lot of insight into what made margaret into the woman that she was. the only singular complaint i had was that
i wish we had gotten more time with margaret and her son. based on her vague letter, it seemed to be that he turned out just like his father. imagine my shock when he didn’t bat an eyelid at her mother’s previous occupation at fleet street? also is it just me or margaret alluded to his son being jack the ripper?
however, this complaint is a minor one. 


overall, i really enjoyed this book and i think it will live with me for quite a while. thank you so much to soho press and netgalley for providing me with the arc! <3
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