I had really high hopes for this audio. The narrators did a good job but I felt that the story dragged out a bit. While there were some twists and shocks, it just didnt pack that punch for me.

This was deliciously depraved and macabre. I love Sweeney Todd so much. Seeing the origin of Mrs. Lovette was such a treat. Definitely check your triggers, but if you like unsettling thrillers this is the book for you.

Book Rating:⭐️5/5

Anyone who knows me knows I live for a gothic/Victorian vibe—and this book delivered in every way! If you’ve ever loved Sweeney Todd and wondered, “But what about Mrs. Lovett?”...this is exactly the book for you.

I went in with an open mind and was completely blown away by what these two amazing authors created. Nothing felt overdone, cliché, or like a basic retelling, it was fresh, original, and so immersive that at times I forgot it was even inspired by a well-known story. The characters were written with such depth and authenticity that I got super attached. Even when they were wreaking absolute havoc, I couldn’t stop thinking about them, I just wanted to stay in their world forever.

Despite being a longer read, it flew by, and I was honestly sad when it ended. The horror elements were awesome, but what really made this book shine was the phenomenal character development. Without that, it wouldn’t have hit nearly as hard.

HIGHLY recommend this if you’re looking for a gripping, gothic horror novel with unforgettable characters!

any one can be monstrous
Now this is character led Horror! This is A24 in book form!
Retellings are not always my things, but when they are flipped to Female led with a Feminist slant you know I am there.
I had the audio of this book and it was completely captivating, I was so deeply entrenched in the streets of London I almost forgot I already knew how this story ended- only to be sooo pleasantly surprised with the actual ending. My jaw was on the floor and I was left with the biggest smile.

I’m not allude to some crazy twist but I truely feel like Clarke wrote that little tid bit just for me, feels like she peaked into my brain. Which I think is a very nice touch from any author.

Any way if you loved Sweeney Todd but men aren’t all that intersecting this is the one to pick up!

I have read so much about the legend Sweeney Todd, a man that murdered a lot of people and kept their body in his basement, this book is a little different.

The butcher’s daughter by David Demchuck and Corrine Leigh Clark is focusing on Mrs. Lovett, Todd’s accomplice, a woman that used the flesh of her victims and baked it into pies.

This gothic horror novel sent a wave of chills down my spine as I read the horrific story of Mrs.Lovett, when you think you know it all, something new comes up, keeping you at the edge of your toes.

It starts when a reporter Emily goes missing, the police find letters in her abandoned apartment, letters that are about to expose deadly secrets.

As I read this gruesome novel, every part of my soul itched for answers, every part of my soul, begged me to keep reading, i was intrigued by the darkness of human nature

I would rate it 8/10 because i enjoyed it so much and I had thought it was a good read, I would recommend this to every person that out there that loves a gruesome novel that will keep you going through the day.

While I did enjoy this it was a bit of a let down that it took until the 60% mark to really get going. It did pull around in the end, I wish the pacing was a bit more consistent.

Gritty is a great way to describe this book! I read this after Virginia Feito's Victorian Psycho and really enjoyed its acuity and detail! If you love the Sweeney legend, you will equally adore this!

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!

Thank you to Corinne Leigh Clark, David Demchuk, RBmedia & NetGalley for the audioARC in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5 stars.
Genre(s): horror, historical fiction.

Overall impression: I went into this story blind with only a vague knowledge of the Sweeney Todd and Mrs Lovett serial killer lore. I wasn't sure what to expect but the story ended up being a lot more complex than I thought with tragic backstories, secret identities, interconnected characters and plot twists that kept me on the edge of my seat. I really enjoyed the method the story was told in, through a series of letters between M.E. and investigative journalist Miss Gibson and newspaper clippings. It added another layer of mystery as I was trying to work out the true identity of the anonymous writer. The ending made me feel uneasy because the villains got away with a lot and there wasn't a sense of justice - but this isn't necessarily a bad thing in the horror genre.

Tropes:
➵ Classic story reimagined
➵ Poverty, tragedy & loss
➵ Stolen children
➵ Servant in wealthy home
➵ Body snatchers for medicine
➵ Cult elements
➵ Serial killers
➵ Hidden identity
➵ Female rage
➵ Romance sub-plot
➵ Cut-throat characters
➵ Sense of anxiety & foreboding
➵ Set in 1800's London
➵ Story told through letters

⤷ Plot/Writing:
I really enjoyed the way the story unfolded through a series of secret letters and newspaper articles. It suited the 1800's time period and added another layer of mystery to the story. The pace was fairly slow to allow plenty of time for character backstories and motivations to be explored, but it ramped up towards the end as characters were thrown back together and the revenge/justice arcs were acted upon. There were a few plot twists revealed gradually and it took me a while to work out which character was actually Mrs Lovett. It's probably fairly obvious from the blurb but because the narrator was unreliable, I was left making educated guesses until the end. The only loose end was what actually happened to the journalist Miss Gibson. She was missing from the start and it was a bit unsatisfying not knowing what became of her.

⤷ Characters:
The characters were all very complex and multidimensional. I was surprised just how interconnected they all were, and how they had crossed paths at multiple times over the course of their lives and not realised. None of the characters were innocent and they each did heinous acts, which made the ending bittersweet and unsettling.

I could understand Mrs. Lovett's motivations to bake men into pies but never really worked out what drove Sweeney Todd to murder his victims. He definitely seemed unstable and impulsive but his backstory wasn't as fleshed out.

⤷ World-building:
The world was set up really well and I could picture the grimy London streets in the 1800's. A lot of the book was set in the lower-class areas - the butcher shop, brothel, pie/barber shop, with some scenes in the middle-class doctor's house. It definitely wasn't a time I would like to visit in person - it seemed cut-throat with body snatchers and serial killers on the loose in the disease-ridden streets.

⤷ Everything else:
I listened to the audiobook by RBmedia. There were three narrators and their voices suited the characters really well making their facial expressions and gestures easy to picture as their tone/delivery changed. I think it would have been equally as engaging and compelling if one narrator completed the entire book - with one narrator voicing most of it anyway. I was able to listen for long periods of time and felt completely submersed in the story. I was on the edge of my seat waiting to hear what was going to happen next, and the book flew by really quickly. I definitely enjoyed the audiobook format and didn't find it hard to keep track of the characters or what article from the dossier we were up to. I think I would have found print format just as enjoyable but I probably would have read it much slower and with more breaks.

Abbreviated review will be posted to AmazonAU once published & link will be added.

First off, I absolutely love that there was book made for the backstory of Mrs. Lovett. I have been a Sweeney Todd fan for a long time and the background that this book gave in addition to the play/Tim Burton film was genius. This will definitely be in my top 10 favorite books of the year, and I will be recommending this book to everyone I know. The book is so well written that it flows as if it could be nonfiction and this could have happened in London in 1887. I am so grateful to Net Galley, RB Media, Corinne Leigh Clark, and David Demchuk for gifting me an arc of the audiobook released today. I am leaving this review voluntarily. The story starts by introducing us to an inquisitive journalist, Emily Gibson who is attempting to locate Mrs. Lovett, the woman who baked men into pies and sold them to street folk in one of the most popular pie shops in town. One day, Mrs. Lovett seemed to have disappeared and Emily is trying to figure out what happened. Flash forward, and Emily Gibson is missing. In her seemingly abandoned apartment, a dossier of letters are collected and sent to the chief of police containing dozens of letters written to Emily Gibson from the woman she believes to be the infamous Mrs. Lovett. Little does she know that this correspondence may cost her everything. For fans of Tim Burton, classic gothic literature, and fictional backstories, this book is for you. An unforgettable story that’s hard to put down, this would be a book I’d recommend to any and every reader.

Delightfully gory and insanely smart. The Butcher’s Daughter starts slow. It took me about 40% of the audiobook to really get hooked. But after that, I was all in.

I loved Mrs. Lovett's backstory. The author's telling of the story gave the baker more agency over her own story (no spoilers), but I did love that the novel did not revolve around the dependency of romance between her and Sweeney Todd. Her story felt more of a driving force of their relationship than his in this retelling.

I will say the story's climax went fast, and I had to keep backing up the audio to understand what happened, but I was incredibly satisfied with the backstory, and everything was tied up nicely.

4 stars for The Butcher’s Daughter: The Hitherto Untold Story of Mrs. Lovett

Arc read in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, RBMedia and Netgally, for the ARC!

This was a lovely addition to Sweeney Todd lore. The many new details really augmented the original story. To be transparent, I’ve only seen the Tim Burton movie and hadn’t seen the original musical. I am also aware that the two stories differ which did create some confusion when I saw how this book was unfolding.

Having said all that, this was an intriguing, emotional, journey through Mrs. Lovett’s life. This turned out to be something I wouldn’t normally seek out, but I enjoyed the ride and know there are others who will eat this story up (hehe). She was a complex character, and I appreciated how so many harrowing and difficult experiences came to shape her into the infamous Mrs. Lovett that we all love... love?...yes love.

Thank you to RB Media and NetGalley for the Advance Listener Copy.

An epistolary retelling of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, The Butcher's Daughter is a bloody and thrilling novel. Great for readers who like protagonists who are a bit off-putting, this was a very interesting read!

I really liked the full cast in the audiobook for sure! Unfortunately after halfway, the story lost me. So I am calling this a DNF but that is at no fault to the narrators. They really did well and probably the only reason I got as far as I did. Something just did not work for me. I think it is because I am on a very gothic historical fantasy type run currently with my book choices and it is competing against others that seem to be just more riveting. I will try to finish it at a later date!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with the arc of this book. I listened to the audiobook, and I have to say the narrators did a great job bringing the Victorian atmosphere to life. If you enjoy bloody, gory stories of murder and love, you will surely enjoy this. The queer love elements were also done very well and were a great addition to this story. Over all, a great take on the story of Mrs. Lovett.

I am always a fan of anything Sweeney Todd, and this lived up to that obsession. If you’ve ever wondered how someone could get to the point of making ✨man meat pies✨just to survive, give this story of Mrs. Lovett a go. Poor woman was sent through the absolute RINGER but her letters are addicting.
I enjoyed this as an audio 🎧 but I will definitely be getting a physical copy so I can use the recipes at the end. 🤭

🥧 New take on a classic
🥧 Feelings of impending doom
🥧 Revenge

12% in and nope I can't force myself to participate in this audiobook anymore. Thank you for allowing me to listen to this ALC but it's just not for me. Since I did not finish it I will not be posting any reviews on any of my socials.

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!

The Butcher’s Daughter was everything I wanted in historical fiction horror. I really loved our main character, she was so strong, slightly unhinged, vengeful. I was intrigued with what the doctor was doing, the eras of body-snatching and live human experimentation days really peaks my interest but what really had me was Sweeney Todd! When I initially picked this up, I didn’t read any blurbs, I was hooked on the title. Imagine my excitement when our MC became Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney Todd was her tenant, I wanted so much more from him! His character was written so well. The ending really had me too - is her son truly who I think he is?! 🤯 I mean, what she said about everyone will know who he is and the timeline… it HAS to be him. I hope there’s a sequel! I listened to this on audio, Jill Tanner, Steven Crossley, Amy Scanlon all did a great job - it was amazing. Thanks to Recorded Books/RB Media and SoHo Press/Hell’s Hundred for my copy!

This book was everything! I love Sweeny Todd but I was worried this was going to focus to much on him and not enough about Lovett but that wasn't this at all. This book gave such great background. I loved that this was queer as well. The book being multimedia also really added something to it. Emerald i just absolutely loved this! I couldn't put it down and its definitely the best expansion on Sweeney Todd and Lovett I have ever read!