{"product_id":"butcher-a-novel","title":"Butcher: A novel","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom one of our most accomplished storytellers, an extraordinary and arresting novel about a women’s asylum in the nineteenth century, and a terrifying doctor who wants to change the world\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this harrowing story based on authentic historical documents, we follow the career of Dr. Silas Weir, “Father of Gyno-Psychiatry,” as he ascends from professional anonymity to national renown. Humiliated by a procedure gone terribly wrong, Weir is forced to take a position at the New Jersey Asylum for Female Lunatics, where he reigns. There, he is allowed to continue his practice, unchecked for decades, making a name for himself by focusing on women who have been neglected by the state—women he subjects to the most grotesque modes of experimentation. As he begins to establish himself as a pioneer of nineteenth-century surgery, Weir’s ambition is fueled by his obsessive fascination with a young Irish indentured servant named Brigit, who becomes not only Weir’s primary experimental subject, but also the agent of his destruction.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNarrated by Silas Weir’s eldest son, who has repudiated his father’s brutal legacy, Butcher is a unique blend of fiction and fact, a nightmare voyage through the darkest regions of the American psyche conjoined, in its startling conclusion, with unexpected romance. Once again, Joyce Carol Oates has written a spellbinding novel confirming her position as one of our celebrated American visionaries of the imagination.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Athenix Books \u0026 Brews","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47638665035943,"sku":"9780593537770","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0721\/0480\/4519\/files\/9780593537770.jpg?v=1768238087","url":"https:\/\/athenixbooksandbrews.com\/products\/butcher-a-novel","provider":"Athenix Books \u0026 Brews","version":"1.0","type":"link"}