Butcher Oatesov Joyce Carol (2024)

Based on authentic historical documents, this harrowing historical novel follows Dr Silas Weir, the so-called Father of Gyno-Psychiatry, as he rises from professional obscurity to national renown. After a procedure goes terribly wrong, Weir takes a position at the New Jersey Asylum for Female Lunatics, where he is allowed to continue his practice unchecked for decades. He builds his reputation through grotesque experiments on women neglected by the state, while his ambition grows alongside his obsessive fascination with Brigit, a young Irish indentured servant who becomes both his principal experimental subject and the agent of his destruction. Narrated by Weirs eldest son, who rejects his fathers brutal legacy, the novel combines fact and fiction in a nightmarish journey through the darkest regions of the American psyche, culminating in an unexpected romance.