In 2016, 'The Butcher's Hook' was the debut novel of which former British TV 'Blue Peter' presenter?

Former Blue Peter presenter Janet Ellis burst on to the literary scene with a bodice-ripping thriller that might traumatise her young viewers were they to pick up a copy. The title, The Butcher’s Hook, rather gives the game away. Somehow you know this novel will not be a comforting read. The hook in question belongs to young butcher Frederick “Fub” Warner and it is shown to Anne Jaccob, narrator and formidable heroine of the novel, in a significant scene.

The hook is sharpened at both ends and is, says Fub, “A perfect design. Whichever way up you use it, it’s always ready.” The 19-year-old Anne is well and truly hooked with brutally dramatic consequences. In her author’s notes, Ellis writes that she wanted to explore how a bright but uneducated and closeted middle-class girl would make sense of her world.