The Butcher Boys: A Yorkshire Dales novel by a local author

Chris Gill, who was born in Ilkley and brought up in Addingham, saw his novel The Butcher Boys published last year by Fisher King Publishing.

Over summer Chris is holding events at shops in Skipton, Grassington, Settle and Pateley Bridge where he will be discussing the novel, reading extracts, and talking to readers about it.

Chris said: “The book has been very well received by readers, having achieved almost exclusively 5 star reviews on Amazon. As well as the paperback and Kindle versions being available on Amazon, the book is also for sale in bookshops throughout the Yorkshire Dales.”

The story is set in the 1970s when best friends Michael and Jack find the bonds that seemed unbreakable in childhood are severely tested by the bitter rivalry between their butchers shops, set against a backdrop of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s Britain.

Author Chris Gill with his latest novel The Butcher Boys

The Butcher Boys is, said Chris, “a story about friendship and rivalry which explores our fundamental need for identity and how this identity is essential for our self-esteem”.

He added: “Sometimes dark and gritty, sometimes funny, always evocative, the novel keeps us close to the points-of-view of the two main protagonists, thus ensuring we are invested in their emotions and experiences as the narrative unfolds.”

It’s very much a book that pulls from the local area, both people and landscape, to give it a very Yorkshire feel.

Chris said: “Having spent my childhood and early adulthood living on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales (in Addingham and Ilkley) as part of a Dales family, I was able to draw on the people, landscape and language of the area whilst writing the novel.

“I believe this has given the book a powerful authenticity and resulted in it being very 'visual', thus allowing readers to vividly picture the story's scenes and characters.”

The Butcher Boys published by Fisher King Publishing

It’s entirely fictional, but was inspired by Chris’s own childhood experiences in Addingham and Ilkley in the 1970s and 1980s.

“Climbing trees, swimming in the river, trekking up hills, discovering secret places like hidden waterfalls, getting up to mischief,” he said.

“This boyhood life, coupled with frequent visits to my extended family, who lived in Grassington in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales, certainly influenced the writing of the novel and made it feel all the more real to me and close to my heart.”

Chris began his writing career with poetry as a child, though it wasn’t until he travelled extensively overseas in his 20s, he felt the urge to tackle fiction.

He studied for a degree in Politics and English at York University and while there won an award from the National Student Drama Festival for his play The Picnic.

After graduating he was a further education teacher for ten years, and began his first book, Back Road, also published by Fisher King Publishing.

Chris added: “Encouraged by having my first novel traditionally published, I began writing 'The Butcher Boys', which was developed over a number of years before Fisher King published it. I am currently working on a third novel about the lives we portray to the world and the lives we actually live.”