Esther, the Butcher
A Novel
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Esther, the Butcher
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Summary
For Esther, life is simple and beautiful. Born in a Finnish industrial town dwarfed by a massive meat factory, Esther was weaned on aspic and sausage. As a teenager, she loved nothing more than working at her parents’ butcher shop, digging her hand into a tub of freshly ground meat and imagining how her own flesh might one day be touched. As an adult, she lands her dream job in the Factory’s slaughterhouse, then marries an artificial inseminator of sows. There is only one thing missing: a child.
But the child Esther longs for doesn’t come. As her parents worry and her town gossips, Esther grows to understand the secret power of her body. Her flesh is not weak, and her spirit is even stronger.
Deadpan, provocative, and deeply humane, Esther, the Butcher is a singular literary debut exploring appetite, flesh, fertility, and the extraordinary ways our bodies shape our understanding of love, loss, and creation. It announces Mariia Niskavaara as a startlingly original new voice and asks: Are we really anything more than meat?
Critic Reviews
Praise for Esther, the Butcher:
“Esther, the Butcher is truly more magic trick than novel, conjuring such startling emotional intensity from its lean sentences that I needed to catch my breath at the end. I loved every minute of this grotesque, insanely original gut punch.”
—Ainslie Hogarth, author of Strange Harm
“Strange, visceral, and deeply moving, Mariia Niskavaara has written a debut that burrows itself under your skin, down to the flesh, hitting some nerves, and tickling a bone or two.”
—Szilvia Molnar, author of The Nursery
“Esther, the Butcher is a captivating and delightfully absurd story about womanhood, motherhood, desire, and the highs and lows of having a body. Mariia Niskavaara is a singular voice in fiction. The prose is clean, sparse, and cuts right to the heart of the matter. This is one of the most wonderfully weird novels I've ever read. You've never met anyone quite like Esther before.”
—Katie Yee, author of Maggie; or, A Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar
“Esther, the Butcher is, in a word, visceral, and in such a powerful, gorgeously realized way. . . . Meaty and nourishing to read—that’s how I felt turning the pages of this vibrancy of a book.”
—Aimee Bender, author of The Butterfly Lampshade
“An unconventional novel, so disturbing that it evokes an irresistible pleasure.”
—Veronica Raimo, author of Lost on Me
“A deeply melancholy and meaty tale. Undeniably surreal, sharp and daring, Esther, the Butcher has a perfect aftertaste that will leave you longing for seconds. An astonishing fairytale with bite.”
—Lucy Rose, author of The Lamb
“Mariia Niskavaara is ruthless, sharp, uncompromising, and she understands us with indescribable tenderness, right down to the very depths of our flesh.”
—Federica Manzon, author of Alma
“Esther, the Butcher is truly more magic trick than novel, conjuring such startling emotional intensity from its lean sentences that I needed to catch my breath at the end. I loved every minute of this grotesque, insanely original gut punch.”
—Ainslie Hogarth, author of Strange Harm
“Strange, visceral, and deeply moving, Mariia Niskavaara has written a debut that burrows itself under your skin, down to the flesh, hitting some nerves, and tickling a bone or two.”
—Szilvia Molnar, author of The Nursery
“Esther, the Butcher is a captivating and delightfully absurd story about womanhood, motherhood, desire, and the highs and lows of having a body. Mariia Niskavaara is a singular voice in fiction. The prose is clean, sparse, and cuts right to the heart of the matter. This is one of the most wonderfully weird novels I've ever read. You've never met anyone quite like Esther before.”
—Katie Yee, author of Maggie; or, A Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar
“Esther, the Butcher is, in a word, visceral, and in such a powerful, gorgeously realized way. . . . Meaty and nourishing to read—that’s how I felt turning the pages of this vibrancy of a book.”
—Aimee Bender, author of The Butterfly Lampshade
“An unconventional novel, so disturbing that it evokes an irresistible pleasure.”
—Veronica Raimo, author of Lost on Me
“A deeply melancholy and meaty tale. Undeniably surreal, sharp and daring, Esther, the Butcher has a perfect aftertaste that will leave you longing for seconds. An astonishing fairytale with bite.”
—Lucy Rose, author of The Lamb
“Mariia Niskavaara is ruthless, sharp, uncompromising, and she understands us with indescribable tenderness, right down to the very depths of our flesh.”
—Federica Manzon, author of Alma
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