The Butcher's Daughter: The Hitherto Untold Story of Mrs. Lovett

by David Demchuk, Corinne Leigh Clark

The story of the vengeful barber Sweeney Todd has gripped fans across literary, stage, and screen renditions—but little has been told of Mrs. Lovett, Todd’s partner in crime. Until now.

Enclosed herewith: a bloodcurdling correspondence of horror and intrigue, based on the original Victorian penny dreadful that started it all.

“Your fingers may bleed with paper cuts as you tear through The Butcher's Daughter . . . I am spellbound."—Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

London, 1887: At the abandoned apartment of a missing young woman, a dossier of evidence is collected, ordered chronologically, and sent to the Chief Inspector of the London Metropolitan Police. It contains a frightening correspondence between an inquisitive journalist, Miss Emily Gibson, and the woman Gibson thinks may be the infamous Mrs. Lovett—Sweeney Todd’s accomplice, “a wicked woman” who baked men into pies and sold them in her pie shop on Fleet Street. The talk of London Town—even decades after her horrendous misdeeds.

As the woman relays the harrowing account of her life—from her upbringing on Butcher’s Row in the unruly streets of Victorian London to her daring escape from a mad doctor—her missives unlock an intricate mystery that brings Miss Gibson closer to the truth, even as that truth may cost her everything.

A hair-raising and breathtaking novel for fans of Sarah Waters and Gregory Maguire, The Butcher’s Daughter is an irresistible literary thriller that draws richly from historical sources and shines new light on the woman behind the counter of the most disreputable pie shop ever known.

Genres: Horror, Historical Fiction, Gothic, Fiction, Historical, Retellings, Thriller

385 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 20, 2025

Reviews

[Sadie Hartmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Title/Author: The Butcher's Daughter by David Demchuk & Corinne Leigh Clark

Page Count: 432

Publisher: Hell's Hundred

Format: I read a physical ARC

Other Books I Enjoyed by This Author: David Demchuk- The Bone Mother and Red X

Affiliate Link: https://bookshop.org/a/7576/978164129...

Release Date: May 6th, 2025

General Genre: Historical, Crime Thriller, Horror, LBGTQIA+, Gothic fiction

Sub-Genre/Themes: 1800s, Victorian Era, Accomplices, Barbers, Brothels, Butchers, Cannibalism, Doctors, Medical horror, Missing women, Murder, Personal letters, Psychic trauma, Sapphic romance, Secret societies, Stillbirth & Crisis Pregnancy, Women journalists, Women serial murderers

Writing Style: Epistolary novels, Collaboration, Intricately plotted, Atmospheric, Intensifying

What You Need to Know: "In 1887 London, journalist Emily Gibson investigates the chilling past of a woman claiming to be Mrs. Lovett, Sweeney Todd's infamous accomplice, through a series of letters revealing a harrowing life in Victorian London, drawing her into a dangerous mystery." --NoveList Plus

My Reading Experience:

I just finished The Butcher’s Daughter by David Demchuk and Corinne Leigh Clark, and I’m still sitting with it—mostly because I can't believe what they managed to do here! It's such a thrilling read. The rich, grim Victorian setting completely pulls you in without feeling staged. You’re just there with these sights and smells, narrow alleys, cluttered medical rooms, and untrustworthy people lurking in dark corners.

The characters are some of the most authentic I’ve read in a while. Even when they’re doing awful things, like really bad things and making horrible decisions, you still want to know more about them. The format with the back-and-forth letters, different POVs, newspaper clippings and posters, really keeps things moving. For a book that’s over 400 pages, it doesn’t feel long. The pace is strong, and the twists actually surprise you, which is rare. There are a lot of them. I didn't see them coming at all, and they land hard (no surprise though, I'm an easy sell) Ha! If you’re into historical horror, you’ll probably eat this up. (Pun not intended. But also—maybe.) Fans of Sweeney Todd will be DELIGHTED by all the connective tissue. Not for the squeamish! There is butchery, blood, meat, body horror, and detailed descriptions of nastiness.

This is character-driven horror! What really stood out to me was the representation—queer and disabled characters are central to the story and fully developed. It feels honest and intentional in a way that’s really refreshing but completely expected as a David Demchuk fan (author of Red X and The Bone Mother) Everyone on the page is alive and fully fleshed out. Some you fall in love with and some you love to hate.

Final Recommendation: If you are an avid horror fan and familiar with Sweeney Todd, this is ESPECIALLY for you. That said, a strong content warning: this book includes graphic violence, cannibalism, pregnancy-related horror, and cruelty. It’s intense, it’s brilliant, and it’s on my list for the best books of 2025 for sure.

Comps: Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito, The Savage Instinct by M. M. DeLuca, In the Garden of Spite by Camilla Bruce

[Chewable Orb · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Butcher’s Daughter by David Demchuk, Corrine Leigh Clark (Audiobook)
Narrated by Jill Tanner, Steven Crossley, Amy Scanlon

Margery Evans, a monster, or simply a product of her environment? A gothically charged tale by David Demchuk and Corrine Leigh Clark takes the reader through old London. Painting a masterful picture of bone-crunching imagery, Miss Evans takes up correspondence with Miss Evans, a local journalist, as part of a tell-all lamenting of her life story.

Wide-eyed as a newborn fawn, Margaret Evans lends a helping hand to her father in the family butcher’s shop. Strangely, Margery has no repulsion from the blood and sacrifice of the animals soon put out for the community to devour. Wielding a butcher’s knife seems natural, as if an extension of her limbs hangs from their sockets. Unfortunately, two significant fortuitous events alter Margery’s life forever: a horse accident involving a small child and a self-inflicted knife wound that punctured her father’s skin. Consequently, Evans's only option is to take a job with an inquisitive, well-off doctor. This is where the meat and potatoes of the story begin….

Sweeney Todd, oh my! A small caveat is that I have never viewed the movie and know nothing of the backstory. To go one step further, I harken back to a trip with my oldest son a decade ago. We went on a Sweeney Todd “ride” in London, which I was assured was not scary. Fast forward to the first five minutes in the pitch-dark room, slowly reclining in a barber’s chair, and, to my chagrin, my son bolting for the exits. Scary moments.

This novel is wicked, delightfully so. My palate salivated in thirst for redemption. The wrongdoings by a private society, well-accustomed to nefarious activities, wrought on the weak simply as normality was blasphemous. To say that Miss Evans changed is an understatement. She became savvy to manipulation, for she was a target in her younger years. Revenge is sweet, or as savory as her famous meat pies. Lingering on the Sweeney Todd inclusion towards the end, Evans' morphed identity shows through, as if looking through a hanging corpse’s eye socket after butchering. Morbid!

In Miss Evans’s constant search for a stolen child, we are provided a glimpse into the complexity of her character. At her core, she is as tender as a beef tenderloin and filled with compassion, which is also on display in an interesting romantic love interest. Hardened like steel over time, she brazenly morphs into a shell of her former self.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please? Coming to the stage is the absolute star of this endeavor, the number one reason I highly suggest this novel be consumed in audio format, our narrator, Jill Tanner. The incredible narration brought so much depth and emotion from her interpretation of Margery Evans. An incredibly rich British accent that brought forth memories of Maggie Smith’s roles in Downton Abbey and Harry Potter. Her voice inflections invoke a plethora of emotions and, interestingly enough, change throughout the novel as Margery’s personality sees a metamorphosis. Starting from a small, almost timid voice and growing to that of the Wicked Witch of the West is quite startling, but oh so befitting.

Up until this year, I had not dabbled much in the audiobook arena. Even so, if you love gothic horror, I can’t recommend this title enough as a place to start. Simply captivating and certain to entertain. It brings you to the streets of Victorian London, drops you off, and invites you to behold the craziness as it unfolds. I am giving you 5 out of 5 stars, a small courtesy to the authors, and especially to Jill Tanner! Must read or listen!

Many thanks to the publisher, RBmedia, through NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion.

[plantsandpageturners · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you RB Media and NetGalley for the ALC copy in exchange for my honest review. This book is a dark, twisty retelling of Sweeney Todd…. but from Mrs. Lovett’s point of view and wow, does she have a story to tell. It’s a feminist, rage filled tale told through letters between a journalist and a woman who might just be the infamous pie maker herself. It’s definitely a slow burn (like, really slow lol), but the character depth and backstory are phenomenal. The narrators totally nailed the eerie vibe and made everything feel way more immersive. If you like dark historical fiction and stories about unhinged women reclaiming power this one might be for you.

[Mallory · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can’t save I ever wondered about Mrs. Lovett, but I was delighted to read this version of her life. I listened to the audiobook and I thought the narrators did a great job bringing the characters to life. I struggled a little in the beginning to get into it with the letters or articles to and from different people and keep all of that straight. As I got into the story it became easier to follow. This book is mostly told in correspondence as Mrs. Lovett tells a woman who is also a reporter her life story, starting as a child who lost her father to the present and how she came to be in the convent without being a nun. I knew the basics of the Sweeney Todd story, but this added such a wonderful layer in given color the Mrs. Lovett who baked the pies. I will have to keep an eye out for this author because this was a unique and fun book.

[Booksblabbering || Cait❣️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deliciously depraved, bravely bold and bloody, teasings of queer longing.
If you liked books like Dowry of Blood or Hungerstone, Tender is the Flesh, this might be for you!

This is a feminist retelling of the sordid case of London’s 19th century Sweeney Todd. If you are unfamiliar, he was a butcher who allied with a baker to sell meat pies made out of the humans he murdered.

This was told in a letter format, recounting the past of the girl who becomes Mrs Lovett who reminisces, agonises, and spills her secrets.
There are also newspaper articles, interviews etc.

It is totally immersive.
You will be transported right there to the butcher’s shop with the sights and smells, feel cramped in narrow alleys, uneasy in cluttered medical rooms, and scared of villains lurking in behind corners.

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.

There is also superb representation of a deaf character and painful experiences of poverty, instability, the rights of a mother, and the position of women.

The audiobook narrator brought this to life and especially regarding the letter format.
The setting, the accents, even the class came across brilliantly.
However, the audio quality was not consistent. Sometimes there were random long pauses, or the sound became distorted. However, this is an arc copy so may not be true for the finished copy.

Whilst I was frustrated by the ending and abruptness, it suits the letter format incredibly well. It feels like a cop out, but it isn’t truly.
Saying that, I do think the climax was slightly rushed.

Audiobook arc gifted by publisher.

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[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Excuse me. One moment of your time, please. HER SONS NAME WAS WHAT?! I mean, that makes a lot of sense considering what his father did for a living but... WHAAATTT? There's going to be a sequel, right? I don't think I can continue living without knowing 100% if her son is who yall are hinting at him being. I. Will. Perish. I need answers! *falls to the floor dead* -time passes- *peeks one eye open- Is there a sequel yet? No? Okay then. *continues to be dead*

[Gyalten Lekden · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Rounded down from 3.5)

Compelling, sympathetic, and bloody, this portrait of what it takes a woman to survive in late 20th century London is gripping from the start. It is written in a retrospective epistolary mode, so the story is being recounted fifty years after it occurred through a series of letters. This, well, this I didn’t love. It didn’t feel like it added to the story, and it actually felt like it held me back from the experience.

Let’s start with what I enjoyed, though. This is not a re-telling of Sweeney Todd (or The String of Pearls,) it is telling a parallel story about an under-explored character from that story, and I think it does that well. We get a deeply moving portrait of a life marked by adversity and struggle, shot through with brief moments of victory only to have lasting happiness constantly be on the periphery, just out of reach. I really enjoyed our central character, and the journey she went through. She is still mostly a victim, of her birth, her circumstances, her sex, and a number of awful men that cross her path, but within that she does fight for agency and make choices, sacrifices, for clear and specific reasons. The world-building is rich and descriptive, not just the 19th century England of it all but also a number of different locations within that, all distinct and captivating. The story moves quickly and covers a lot of ground, and allows our main character to develop and grow. The writing also worked, the tone and style personal and emotional and helped create the atmosphere. The story is happy to force us to blur the line between aggressor and victim, and doesn’t want the reader to be content and unquestioning in their acceptance of such a false duality, and I appreciate that.

I enjoyed the novel quite a bit, I enjoyed the depth of story and the pacing, the shocks of gore and violence and the small moments of intimacy that struggled in its bloody grip. The epistolary format, though, held me back from really loving this story. I did enjoy the meta story being told, about the missing reporter to whom all these letters had been addressed, I think that was a nice touch. I don’t find the argument as to why our main character was allowed to begin this correspondence compelling, nor that as to why she was insistent on telling her whole story (but repeatedly telling this reporter that she couldn’t tell anyone) …. But I am willing to overlook that, if the epistolary framing brings something else to the story and experience, something lost otherwise. Unfortunately, for me, it didn’t. It did set up a nice ending, I will give it that. But having everything told in this retrospective epistolary format kept us at a significant distance from the main character and from her actions. Her feelings, her experiences, both terrible and titillating, are all seen through a filter, never mind the constant doubt about the narrator’s reliability. The story that was told is exciting and emotional and has all sorts of peaks and valleys and I would have loved to be able to experience that with our main character, not set at a remove, not in an almost clinical recollection. The occasional additional ephemera included—police reports, letters from the reporter’s father, letters from physician groups, and so on, these were a nice touch. They helped create tension in the story and did add to the overall ambiance. But I would gladly give them all up if I could have been in the room with our character when she sawed through her first leg, when she took that fateful carriage ride with her mother, when she crossed all sorts of lines, both knowingly and unknowingly. There is a level of immediacy and intimacy that I felt was lost in the decision to write in this format/mode, and what was gained didn’t quite make up for it.

That said, I did enjoy the novel. Even though I constantly felt like I was being held at arm’s length I was still drawn to read the next chapter, and the next, to dig deeper and see what secrets might be uncovered. The atmosphere and writing are well-crafted, and the story itself is inventive and fun, forcing the audience into an alliance, or complicity, with a party they know they should avoid. Although I didn’t feel the emotional experiences of the characters were as well-explored in this format as they might be in others I did find the main character genuine, complicated, and engaging, and most of the various ancillary characters also colored the world well and felt like more than mere window dressing. If you are most attracted to the immediacy and intimacy of a character’s story and aren’t particularly compelled by epistolary novels then, even though the story itself is a good one, this novel may not work for you. However, if you’re intrigued by or even simply don’t mind epistolary novels, and, for that matter, retrospective first-person novels, then I think this novel is a lot of fun and worth seeking out.

I want to thank the author, the publisher Soho Press, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Ophelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for this five-star read.
It is not a book I read quickly. The style and format of the story, presented primarily in correspondence between characters, is filled with vivid description and the specific detail and wording of the writing is perfect for setting the atmosphere of the era where the tale unfolds.

If you're already familiar with the story of Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, you will find a whole new version of it here, through the voice of Mrs Lovett. You can decide how reliable a narrator she is, but the final twist in the story is so much fun.

I recommend reading this book with a large cup of tea, cozy beside a fire this winter. You won't regret it.

[Savannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finished this by sheer force of my willpower after having checked the damn book out from the library. I should've DNFd tho! This really could've been about anyone because trying to connect it Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett was unnecessary, and honestly, if it had been about some random woman it would've been better!

It takes like 60% of the story for her to even ~become~ Mrs. Lovett and by that point you're mentally exhausted. This book is boring and tedious. The decision to make it epistolary was a bad one. The letters have zero connection to anything going on and I am still unclear about who tf Ms. Gibbons is. It's just letters TO Ms. Gibbons with no return postage and it's like okay what are we looking at?

Once Sweeney Todd shows up you quickly realize that this version of him is not a good one (as good as he can be). Granted, my knowledge is from the musical so based on that, this version of him is comically evil with no reason to be. Like, at least in the musical his villainy is for a reason and even though he loses the plot, you get how he ended up that way. In this though? He just kills people left and right in public places that aren't his shop which make no sense. The whole, Joanna can pretend to be Toby to avoid his wrath...again. why?

There is also a random rape plotline that happens in a dream and a 3 sentence lesbian love scene that comes out of nowhere? What in the hell was this book attempting to go for?

This story was made worse for trying to connect it to Sweeney Todd. Should've just been about a random crazy lady in England.

2⭐ because I love Sweeney Todd and the vibes once he showed up were more in line with what I thought this entire book should've been.

[DianaRose · Rating 3 out of 5]

firstly, thank you to the publisher for an arc and alc!

3.5 stars

i absolutely adore the sweeney todd movie starring johnny depp, helena bonam carter, and alan rickman, as well as the broadway play (which i saw with josh groban!!) so when i saw there would be a novel highlighting mrs. lovett’s backstory i begged for it on netgalley and edelweiss.

i absolutely adored the first 50% of this book — mrs. lovett’s origin is sad, and she is a victim of circumstance that inevitably hardens her into the murderous woman she became.

while i loved the originality and expansion of mrs. lovett’s character (specifically her sapphic lover), i did not like the direction the authors took in changing the entirety of the plot i knew. while it’s not necessarily bad, and i still enjoyed the changes, i was unprepared for a complete change in plot, as i was under the assumption it would be more character development and expansion.

as for the audio — there was a full cast, and i adore full cast narration. the narrators did a phenomenal job.

overall, this was still a fantastically gorey victorian horror novel, but fans of the movie/broadway show note the changes!

[Becky Spratford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review in the April 1 & 15, 2025 issue of Booklist and on the blog: https://raforall.blogspot.com/2025/04... (link live on 4/3/25)

Three Words That Describe This Book: strong sense of place, fiction about fictional characters, epistolary

Like Gregory Maguire’s Wicked did for the Wizard of Oz, readers will not be able to look at Sweeney Todd the same way again. Those who enjoy being immersed in the gritty, visceral, and historically accurate world of Victorian London as seen in Victorian Psycho by Feito or From Hell by Moore will eagerly devour this tale.


Also-- fun, clever, compelling, atmospheric, menacing, psychological thriller, visceral (but from the start readers should be prepared if they know the story of Sweeney Todd. The thing is though, it is visceral throughout)

Readers will be immersed in the second half of the 1800 hundreds in the streets of London. All five senses. 2 main time frames-- 1887, the story's present when Margery is an older woman to back to beginning in her childhood (50 years before) and moving forward to the present as she tells journalist Emily Gibson her story though letters and diary entries.

The entire novel is framed as the dossier given to the head investigator-- documents gathered by Gibson, a journalist trying to figure out who Margery really was. It has the letters and diary entries but also correspondences that Gibson received as part of her inquiry. The dossier was found at the start of the novel in Gibbons rooms but she is missing.

So we have a double mystery of who Margery is and where Gibson is?

This is a story of a woman pushed into the shadows of a famous story being given her moment to be the star. Yes, she is fictional, but the story that is told feels real and even makes connections to things that really happened and places that exist. So in making her real-- the way Margery was able to move around the world despite being poor makes sense within its time. She can only act when desperate and in certain allowable ways. She must use those with power to allow her to act. The reader is frustrated for her.

But, as will come as a surprise to no one, she is also the (fictional) accomplice to Todd, a woman who took his murder victims and turned them into meat pies. Yes, we the reader have been knowingly enchanted by and are rooting for a horrible human. But again it is not a surprise-- it is in the titles for goodness sake. And this is important, because when you give away what some would think of as the twist in the title, you have to deliver a story that not only keeps people reading but has its own new revelations and still elects and emotional response. Don't worry, they do.

The discoveries here come from revealing Margery's story-- all its twists and turns-- and it all pieces together up thru and even AFTER her turn as Mrs Lovett. Only in this time period and as a woman would Margaret be able to take on the identity of some many different people and live so many different lives. The whole book is an indictment of the way women were treated and still are in many ways. But also as we have sympathy, we readers also know that she is a horrible person, a murderer, and yet we read on-- wanting to know more and feeling badly for her.

That feeling we readers have to sit with as the authors not only "close the book" on Margery's story but also Gibson's is the biggest reveal and totally worth the price of admission here. The emotional punch is awesome. The authors rely on you thinking you know where the story will go to add another wrinkle that allows the fear and horror to travel off the page and reverberate onside the reader and into history as well.

I will never be able to experience Sweeney Todd the same way again which says a lot about this book. It reminds me of how no one can watch he Wizard of Oz the same way again after Gregory Magure wrote Wicked. This story is much more menacing and darker but same idea.

Readers unfamiliar with Sweeney Todd should be okay as his fiction character and actions are explained, but I do think the authors use the reader's knowledge of the story to their advantage and you would enjoy this novel more if you read at least a synopsis of the story before reading this book.

Readalikes: Victorian Psycho, The Historian, From Hell (GN)-- this story captures the time, the place, and its grit perfectly.

[ren ౨ৎ (rozanov's version) · Rating 3 out of 5]

⁀➷ 2.75 ★ ´ˎ˗

let me start off by saying: this was my first epistolary novel, and i honestly don’t think this particular writing style is for me. as a fan of the musical sweeney todd, i was intrigued by the premise of a book that delved deeper into the backstory of mrs. lovett. i think that the authors did a fantastic job at creating a grim, dark, and atmospheric tone that fit the setting. but, the story just seemed to drag and was a bit all over the place for me.

i think the combination of letter correspondence and articles was interesting, but it also took me out of the story as a whole. it felt difficult for me to connect with both miss gibson and margaret, and i feel as if that had something to do with the writing style. but, overall, it was a fun and gory read (even though it took me quite a while to actually finish reading it).

thank you to netgalley, soho press, david demchuk, and corinne leigh clark for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

[Elle · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25/5 stars.

I wish that I had read/watched Sweeney Todd prior to reading The Butcher's Daughter: The Hitherto Untold Story of Mrs. Lovett to gain a deeper appreciation for this story. I don't think not having prior knowledge ruined my experience, but I feel like I'm missing out.

This was an incredibly atmospheric, dark, and sinister read. I thought the layout of this book was fun with the addition of letters and the occasional illustration. This is certainly a book that I'll be purchasing for my shelves when it's released.

The writing reads more dated to fit the setting, so if you don't like older style writing, this might bother you. I found that I enjoyed it. The setting would've felt wrong had the writing been more modern. I enjoyed the characters and found myself intrigued by this whole Sweeney Todd universe. The characters were well-written and although they are very morally questionable people, I still found myself cheering on Mrs. Lovett. I'm incredibly curious to see how the stories match up and if I'll feel differently about the characters with the original.

If you haven't read the original then I think you're still able to read this, but in hindsight, I wish that I had taken the time to read it first. I have a creeping suspicion that my rating will be higher on a second read.

Obviously with this story, I would say to check the trigger warnings beforehand. If you're not normally a horror reader, there are definitely many themes that may bother you.

TW: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, and Infertility

StoryGraph Review
Fable Review

[Kai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok, Wow!! This book blew me away!! I'm not good at writing reviews in the first place, but even if I was, I don't think anything I would write could do this story the justice it deserves. I wish I knew how to articulate just how awesome my experience was with this! In the few reviews I looked at, it seems the ratings are all over the place. This story combined various genres and did it with such finesse! I loved the historical fiction aspect that was coupled with horror!! I love that it was set in the 1800s in London. It's quite the epic tale of the life story of the infamous Mrs. Lovett. Her life took so many drastic twists and turns, and she kept finding herself in some messed up situations. I enjoyed her ability to adapt no matter what. I've always prided myself on being able to adapt easily, but I think Mrs. Lovett has got me beat! The Mad Doctor had ME mad! He was so despicable, yet he was charming on the outside. At first, I thought he was a good guy. That's how kind he comes off. As for the upscale sex house, as I call it, I have no words for that except for when ur homeless on the streets and on the run, beggers can't be choosers. Talk about a shocking situation, lol! Then the barber, Sweeney Todd, well, his hobby is quite extreme. Then, of course, "Mrs. Lovett,s" ways with her ingredients for her pies are quite extreme too! I loved it ALL! This story is sad yet thrilling, exciting, and very disturbing! And the horror aspects of it I assumed were going to be scary. It's a different type of horror, though, that I don't know how to explain, but it worked beautifully because I surely was horrified! The story is a lot about survival and also searching for a missing loved one(s). This book is well written and just brilliantly executed!! I highly recommend it!

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess I don't know what I expected but this wasn't it. We barely get any time with our MC once she becomes the famed Mrs. Lovett and then things wrap up so quickly. The epistolary nature of this novel made it hard to connect with the characters (I still don't know why Miss Gibson was looking into Mrs. Lovett in the first place) and made trying to connect the dots tedious (the Freemasons? they were involved but they also weren't?). I was skimming just to get to the conclusion. Oh yeah, Mrs. Lovett was a lesbian(?) in this. But barely so. The insta love/relationship she has for a female character was so weak. If they really wanted to make her queer, I would have found it way more interesting if she was bi and once she meets Sweeney Tood, falls for him and into darkness, potentially torn between her past female lover and the dark passion she has with Todd. (Maybe that's what I was hoping for with this book, I would find that story compelling.) But alas, this was a let down. And omg, the ending...the "plot twist" made me laugh out loud.

[Raquel · Rating 4 out of 5]

”At Mrs. Lovett’s, every pie has a tale to tell.”

This story is told entirely through a collection of letters, diary entries and other documents which made it so interesting and so much more fun to read. It feels like the reader stumbled upon something forbidden, an archive of hidden lives and lost voices.

What stands out the most is how the book reclaims a well known story like Sweeney Todd, reclaims it and lets it speak on its own. This time focusing on Mrs. Lovett - Todd’s partner in crime.

This retelling feels grounded in time and place, plausible in its London scenario. The authors build a life shaped by desperation, limited options and a society stacked against her. There’s a quiet fury beneath it all.

And just when you think you’ve mapped the whole plot, it twists again. The ending lands hard, closing Mrs. Lovett and Gibson’s arcs in a very shocking manner.

A thank you to the author and NetGalley for providing me a copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased and honest review.

[Dan Bassett · Rating 5 out of 5]

London, 1887.
At the abandoned apartment of a missing young woman, a dossier of evidence is scooped up, given chronological order, and is spirited to the Chief Inspector, curtesy of the London Metropolitan Police.
What contents lie within you may ask?
Such correspondence inside contain frightening, disturbing, and downright terrifying missives between an inquisitive journalist, Miss Emily Gibson, and the woman she believes is Mrs. Lovett - Sweeney Todd’s accomplice now infamous throughout the lands - even decades after her apparent misdeeds….
As the woman relays a harrowing account of her life taking her from London’s perilous streets, to the house of a doctor that was meant to help and guide her, to a place of such wonders she never thought possible, to being under the influence and shadow of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Miss Gibson may finally have the answers she’s been looking for but the more we learn about her life, the more corrupt and fractured her character becomes. Will her story clear Mrs. Lovetts’s name of any wrongdoing or will the final crack in the surface cause the veneer to shatter beyond all repair, leaving nothing but a documented life that resulted in men being baked into pies?
Bloodthirsty, thrilling, and absolutely jaw dropping, The Butcher’s Daughter will delight and unsettle and is irresistible!

[Bella · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. the building up of the story was better than the meat of it, that felt very rushed. the plot twist at the end was very fun though. and yes I've had "the worst pies in london" stuck in my head ever since I started reading this book.

[Bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

How deliciously fun and twisted this book was! Macabre, dark, gruesome...yet such a delight getting to know Mrs. Lovett to better understand how she came to be wrapped up with Sweeney Todd.

The book covers Mrs. Lovett's younger years, her experience working as a maid for the wicked and evil doctor, and continues as the pie baker's wife. She is portrayed in a sympathetic manner that allows the reader to care about her and root for her.

This audiobook was very well performed. The narrator representing Mrs. Lovett fit the character perfectly. And the ending was delightfully perfect!

Thank you #NetGalley for an audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

[Sophie Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting tale of Mrs Lovett - this isn't a retelling of Sweeney Todd but rather showcasing Mrs Lovett's life through a collection of diary entries, letters and more.
it's an interesting book that outlines the awful life of women in these times.

the audio narration was great and really delivered on telling this story.

[Jaime · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted this book to be better than it was. A lot of people's reviews are just focusing on the musical and not on the original String of Pearls penny blood that did have Todd as a big, dumb villain with messy hair he sticks his combs in and a desire for killing with no discernable motives. Therefore that didn't bother me. People need to remember that penny dreadfuls were the over-the-top, bloody, soap opera pulps of their day. Everything was contrived, there were tropes galore.

To build a story on a piece of pulpy magazine fiction, you have to write a piece of pulpy magazine fiction. And there was no element of 'the revenger's tragedy' in the original penny dreadful, thats a Sondheim addition. He wanted to give Sweeney a reason to kill. Maybe once you can manage to get past that bit, you can see where the story kind-of falls apart.

For those hoping Mrs Lovett will detail how she became attracted to Todd, why she decided on cannibalism to begin with, any sort of interesting backstory, don't hope for that. It's not that book. Which is ironic since the character falls in with a mad doctor (does he get her to delight in carving things up? No. Inflame a secret fascination with surgeries? Nope. Maybe get her to partake in human flesh for the first time? Nuh-uh.)

She falls in with some prostitutes and their madame (and she's somehow a Lesbian even though no previous versions ever showed that inclination even slightly, so don't expect any twisted tortured, love affair between Lovett and Todd...nope.)

They're partners who irritate each other and bicker. And now instead of being a disabled abused boy like he is in both the play and the penny blood, Tobias is now her deaf lover in disguise. And that's the absolute least that I could spoil just to explain why this book is a bad effort at fan fiction, let alone a backstory for what could be a complex, complicated woman. Just...a disappointing story that led me to DNF at about 50%.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

”At Mrs Lovett’s every pie has a tale to tell.”

Yes I relistened to this book as soon as I finished it!!

Review to come 🥧

[Ronan Rabbit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you, of course, to Netgalley and the publishers for access to this ARC audiobook version of The Butcher's Daughter!

Have you ever read a book and thought, "Damn, was this written exactly for me?" - because that is EXACTLY how I felt about this book.

It's all blood and longing and murder and misery and madness. A perfect reimagining of the story of Sweeney Todd through the eyes and history of Mrs. Lovett - though with the one sided crush on Todd replaced with a tragic sapphic romance which obviously I, of all people, would NEVER complain about. This book does absolutely everything I could ever ask it to, though the slight twist at the end did make me giggle and roll my eyes. It is SO well researched, so if you're the type to have a particular fascination with the more morbid facts of Victorian England, you will find lots of accurate reference to tickle your fancy.

The audiobook production of this book is in particular AMAZING. 3 different voices, all of which are so compelling and add to the already enthralling atmosphere. Long story short, I really enjoyed it, holy shit!

[khate · Rating 5 out of 5]

stunning. brilliant. spectacular.

girlhood is rewatching the movie sweeney todd, relistening to all the musicals, and then discovering this masterful book. 10/10 experience.

[myreadingescapism · Rating 2 out of 5]

HAHAHAHAAH, tf was that ending?

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yikes—in the best way

[The Pastel Bookshelf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edit: I’m upping this to 4.5⭐️ because I can’t stop thinking about how good it was 🥧🪓🩸

[Cherry Mae · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley the publisher for the opportunity to read The Butcher's Daughter: The Hitherto Untold Story of Mrs. Lovett. As a fan of Sweeney Todd, I had high hopes for this expansion of the lore. Unfortunately, this novel was not my cup of tea. I found myself unable to get through the narrative despite several attempts to start it.

My primary struggle was with the epistolary format; the story is told through letters, a style I simply do not enjoy. While I appreciated the concept of delving deeper into Mrs. Lovett’s psyche, the execution failed to hold my interest or build the momentum I craved. The experience proved that a beloved source material does not always guarantee a compelling adaptation in a different medium.

This is a case of a book being a poor match for my personal reading preferences, and I have decided not to finish it. Readers who are particularly drawn to character studies told through correspondence may find more to enjoy here than I did.

[Goth Radio Hour · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Sweeney Todd movie was one of my teenage obsessions, so of course I had to pick up this book once it was out. It is totally outside my normal genre reads, but anything for Mrs. Lovett.

The Butcher's Daughter is a historical horror adaptation, with lots of grisly Victorian medical horror. I liked the angle the book took, sort of a true crime feel. Since the framing device is of a young reporter trying to find out what happened to the notorious Mrs. Lovett after she disappeared before being apprehended for her alleged crimes.
The story is predominantly told through letters, that are quite chunky. Like whole page long paragraphs. I am glad I had the audiobook to help me overcome the walls of text. The story really picks up about 1/3 of the way in. The audiobook does a great job, with multiple narrators so the types of letters and newspaper clippings are easy to keep separate.

[ThatBookish_deviant · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0/5