About the Author

Actress, presenter and author Janet Ellis trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Best known for presenting Blue Peter, she stars in numerous radio and TV programmes and in 2018 appeared at the Edinburgh Festival. In 2016 Janet was awarded an MBE for services to charities and theatre.A graduate of the Curtis Brown creative writing course, her debut novel, The Butcher's Hook, was longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize.janetellis.comtwitter.com/missjanetellisinstagram.com/missjanetellis

Reviews

Ellis has a public personality of great charm, and a good deal of this gets into her writing... she revels in the historical details, has a grasp of pace and knows how to keep her audience hooked - The TimesThe Butcher's Hook doesn't read like a first novel - it is a high-finish performance. Its heroine is an 18th-century teenage girl, who starts demurely although her sex drive turns out to be anything but demure. You need to be braced for violence to rival any Jacobean tragedy: The Butcher's Hook will hook you. - Observer (New Faces of Fiction)This author remains one to watch. She has a sharp eye and a sharper wit. More importantly still, she possesses a subtle and compassionate understanding of the human heart - GuardianThis is a dark, weird, gloriously feminist story of a girl in 1763 pushing against the limits of her role and a dark love story. - Elle UK (Best New Books for 2016)A story of dispassionate, bloody brilliance rich in believable period detail - MetroA gripping girl-power story - SunEllis weaves her tale with deft skill, striking imagery and a boldness rare in a first novel - Mail on SundayEllis has created something marvellous in the character of Anne Jaccob - her voice is strange, dark and utterly mesmeric. This is historical fiction as I've never encountered it before: full of viscera, snarling humour and obsessive desire. I loved it. - Hannah Kent, bestselling author of BURIAL RITES