When Lady Mae turns 18, she'll inherit her mother's ghastly job as the Butcher: dismembering Settlement Five's guilty criminals as payment for their petty crimes. But then their leaders, known as the Deputies, come to Lady Mae's house, and there in the living room murder her mother for refusing to butcher a child.

Within twenty-four hours, now alone in the world, Lady Mae begins her gruesome job. But a chance meeting years later puts her face to face with the Deputy that murdered her mother. Now Lady Mae must choose: will she flee, and start another life in the desolate mountains, forever running? Or will she seek vengeance for her mother's death even if it kills her?

A devastating, alarming page-turner infused with melancholy and humanity - despite society's maddening acceptance in the face of horror.