"The atmospheric novel set during the Tudor era of a young woman's struggle to define herself in a world of uncertainty, intrigue, and danger in a period of great upheaval. In 1535, England is hardly a wellspring of gender equality; it is a grim and oppressive age where women--even the privileged few who can read and write--have little independence. In The Butcher's Daughter, it is this milieu that mandates Agnes Peppin, daughter of a simple country...