What do you think?
Rate this book
Slaughter
From dogs to curlews, sheep to people, the animals we live with tell us much about ourselves. In these stories, set in the bleak and eerie landscape of the Yorkshire Pennines, domestic struggles collide with the wild as humans fight for control - often making a bargain with the devil. These stories are well written, with an elegant style. The characters are believable and fully formed, as Hildyard inhabits the different voices throughout.
75 pages, Paperback
Published March 31, 2021
2 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 18, 2021
Slaughter by Rosanna Hildyard is the startling first foray into fiction publishing from award-winning Cornish indie Broken Sleep Books. The collection’s three short stories, ‘Offcomers’, ‘Outside Are The Dogs’ and ‘Cull Yaw’ form an arresting triptych of life in the bleak yet beautiful Yorkshire Pennines. Each tale is an unsettling depiction of the tensions, compromises and creeping loneliness of existence of people attempting to live off the land in a changing world.
Set during the 2001 foot-and-mouth disease epidemic, ’Offcomers’ tells of a young woman’s increasing fear and isolation as the outbreak approaches the remote farm where she lives. Women and the compromises they make to live in a hostile environment continue in ‘Outside Are The Dogs’, a story with a gut-punch ending reminiscent of a Northern Flannery O’Connor.
Running through each narrative is an unflinching look at the fraught, often contradictory relationship between humans and the animals we eat, domesticate, endanger or live alongside. Hildyard lists South Korean author Han Kang among her inspirations, and fans of her novel The Vegetarian will find definite echoes in the grisly final story, ’Cull Yaw’.
These stories are informed by Hildyard’s own experiences of growing up partly on a cattle farm in North Yorkshire, and this personal knowledge shines through in her precisely observed depiction of its stark, otherworldly landscape. Each stands out on its own with a deft narrative voice, while fitting together to form a cohesive portrait of the everyday struggles of those trying to survive and find connection out on the raw edge of nature.
A note on design: Broken Sleep Books are known for minimalist jacket designs with meaningfully chosen colours, and this elegant dove-grey volume is no exception.
A copy of the book was given to me by the author in return for an honest review.
Set during the 2001 foot-and-mouth disease epidemic, ’Offcomers’ tells of a young woman’s increasing fear and isolation as the outbreak approaches the remote farm where she lives. Women and the compromises they make to live in a hostile environment continue in ‘Outside Are The Dogs’, a story with a gut-punch ending reminiscent of a Northern Flannery O’Connor.
Running through each narrative is an unflinching look at the fraught, often contradictory relationship between humans and the animals we eat, domesticate, endanger or live alongside. Hildyard lists South Korean author Han Kang among her inspirations, and fans of her novel The Vegetarian will find definite echoes in the grisly final story, ’Cull Yaw’.
These stories are informed by Hildyard’s own experiences of growing up partly on a cattle farm in North Yorkshire, and this personal knowledge shines through in her precisely observed depiction of its stark, otherworldly landscape. Each stands out on its own with a deft narrative voice, while fitting together to form a cohesive portrait of the everyday struggles of those trying to survive and find connection out on the raw edge of nature.
A note on design: Broken Sleep Books are known for minimalist jacket designs with meaningfully chosen colours, and this elegant dove-grey volume is no exception.
A copy of the book was given to me by the author in return for an honest review.
February 21, 2022
These stories are set in the northern Yorkshire Pennines. Here, life is bleak, tough. Characters who inhabit such a landscape are tough too, and get through life by doing, by surviving. Communication, one with another, is not their strong suit. Three stories demonstrate this. In the first, set at the time of Foot and Mouth Disease, a young townie tries to get to grips with her dyed-in-the-wool country farmer partner, wondering the while if the epidemic is a punishment for farming in the first place. 'Outside are the dogs' features another mismatched couple. If only they could communicate! But they can't. Not even the dog can help. The final story, 'Cull yaw' is shocking, involving a would-be-ethical farmer and his vegetarian partner. This couple too communicate in silences, and attack their difficulties with desperation. This is not a comfortable read - especially in this time of Covid. It illustrates well the power of failing to talk meaningfully with one another. It paints a powerfully bleak picture of the landscape and surroundings in this part of England, whilst pointing up its raw beauty too. This is, I think, a book which will stay with me.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews