The Butcher's Daughter
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Acknowledgments
As always, thank you to my publisher, Bloodhound Books and to the rest of the team who work tirelessly in the background. This was a complex story that required several re-writes. This meant publication was pushed back three times. However, Betsy and I were both in agreement that we wanted it to be the best book it could be. With her help, we managed to achieve this. I couldn’t have done it without you Betsy! Huge thanks also to Alexina for initially recognising the book’s potential and editor Morgen Bailey for all her hard work. Up until this point in my life I had no idea what onomatopoeic meant.
Special mention goes to a team of talented beta readers who provided support during the book’s early stages. The Butcher’s Daughter has gone through a lot of changes since then, but David McCaffrey, Sarah Denzil, Ross Greenwood, Darren Richards, Shani Struthers and Sean Turner all took time out of their exceptionally busy schedules to provide me with invaluable feedback —and I just want to say what superstars you all are.
After reading The Butcher’s Daughter, you may have guessed that I am a vegetarian (vegan on a good day), but I want you to know that I am not precious about it. I would never preach to meat-eaters about my beliefs or expect them to alter their views. I have even been known to make bacon sandwiches for friends. But it may surprise you to know that I only turned vegetarian during the writing of this book. This came about during the early research phase when I visited local butcher shops and slaughterhouses to get a feel for such places. Although some were better than others, what I saw and heard there changed my mindset forever; my husband’s too, after reading the first two chapters of this book.
I appreciate that some of the slaughterhouse scenes in The Butcher’s Daughter could be upsetting for some. Several readers have told me that it put them off eating meat. These scenes might even attract poor reviews, but however gruesome and squeamish you find them—all I ask is that you remember these “killing days” are not fictional. Every year in the UK approximately 2.6 million cows, 10 million pigs, 14.5 million sheep and 950 million birds are “humanely slaughtered” for human consumption. I can assure you that vegetable slaughterhouses are a much nicer place to visit!
On that note, if you ever find yourself in New York, why not drop into the aptly-named “The Butcher’s Daughter,” a plant-based restaurant, juice café and veggie slaughterhouse, where they treat fruit and veg as a butcher would meat. The owner has been kind enough to ask me to drop in any time I am visiting to talk about my book.
Now that the serious part is over, I come to the best bit. This is when I get to thank my lovely readers for all their support, especially my ARC reading group. You know who you are! Your loyalty and friendship mean everything.