The Slaughterman's Daughter Audiobook By Yaniv Iczkovits cover art

The Slaughterman's Daughter

A Novel

Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

The Slaughterman's Daughter

By: Yaniv Iczkovits
Narrated by: Tovah Feldshuh
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $22.50

Buy for $22.50

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

"If the Coen brothers ever ventured beyond the United States for their films, they would find ample material in this novel." (The New York Times Book Review)

"Occasionally a book comes along so fresh, strange, and original that it seems peerless, utterly unprecedented. This is one of those books." (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

Winner of the 2021 Wingate Literary Prize

Finalist for the 2021 National Jewish Book Awards, "Book Club Award"

An irresistible, picaresque tale of two Jewish sisters in late-19th-century Russia, The Slaughterman’s Daughter is filled with “boundless imagination and a vibrant style” (David Grossman).

With her reputation as a vilde chaya (wild animal), Fanny Keismann isn’t like the other women in her shtetl in the Pale of Settlement - certainly not her obedient and anxiety-ridden sister, Mende, whose “philosopher” of a husband, Zvi-Meir, has run off to Minsk, abandoning her and their two children.

As a young girl, Fanny felt an inexorable pull toward her father’s profession of ritual slaughterer and, under his reluctant guidance, became a master with a knife. And though she long ago gave up that unsuitable profession - she’s now the wife of a cheesemaker and a mother of five - Fanny still keeps the knife tied to her right leg. Which might come in handy when, heedless of the dangers facing a Jewish woman traveling alone in czarist Russia, she sets off to track down Zvi-Meir and bring him home, with the help of the mute and mysterious ferryman Zizek Breshov, an ex-soldier with his own sensational past.

Yaniv Iczkovits spins a family drama into a far-reaching comedy of errors that will pit the czar’s army against the Russian secret police and threaten the very foundations of the Russian Empire. The Slaughterman’s Daughter is a rollicking and unforgettable work of fiction.

©2021 Yaniv Iczkovits (P)2021 Random House Audio
Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Jewish Literary Fiction World Literature Russia Marriage Middle East Historical Drama

Listeners also enjoyed...

A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom Audiobook By John Boyne cover art
A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom By: John Boyne
Gods of Jade and Shadow Audiobook By Silvia Moreno-Garcia cover art
Gods of Jade and Shadow By: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Bellefleur Audiobook By Joyce Carol Oates cover art
Bellefleur By: Joyce Carol Oates
Copperhead Audiobook By Alexi Zentner cover art
Copperhead By: Alexi Zentner
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman Audiobook By Haruki Murakami cover art
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman By: Haruki Murakami
Creation Audiobook By Gore Vidal cover art
Creation By: Gore Vidal
Troubles Audiobook By J. G. Farrell cover art
Troubles By: J. G. Farrell
A Pillar of Iron Audiobook By Taylor Caldwell cover art
A Pillar of Iron By: Taylor Caldwell
One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow Audiobook By Olivia Hawker cover art
One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow By: Olivia Hawker
The Chocolate Maker's Wife Audiobook By Karen Brooks cover art
The Chocolate Maker's Wife By: Karen Brooks
Great Circle Audiobook By Maggie Shipstead cover art
Great Circle By: Maggie Shipstead
The Social Graces Audiobook By Renée Rosen cover art
The Social Graces By: Renée Rosen
The Last Year of the War Audiobook By Susan Meissner cover art
The Last Year of the War By: Susan Meissner
Trinity Audiobook By Leon Uris cover art
Trinity By: Leon Uris
The Book of Koli: Booktrack Edition Audiobook By M. R. Carey cover art
The Book of Koli: Booktrack Edition By: M. R. Carey
The Game of Kings Audiobook By Dorothy Dunnett cover art
The Game of Kings By: Dorothy Dunnett
Razzmatazz Audiobook By Christopher Moore cover art
Razzmatazz By: Christopher Moore
The Women of Chateau Lafayette Audiobook By Stephanie Dray cover art
The Women of Chateau Lafayette By: Stephanie Dray
A Girl Called Samson Audiobook By Amy Harmon cover art
A Girl Called Samson By: Amy Harmon
A Long Petal of the Sea Audiobook By Isabel Allende, Nick Caistor, Amanda Hopkinson cover art
A Long Petal of the Sea By: Isabel Allende, and others

Critic reviews

Kirkus Reviews "10 Fiction Books to Look for in 2021"

Thrillist "30 Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2021"

“Occasionally a book comes along so fresh, strange, and original that it seems peerless, utterly unprecedented. This is one of those books. You might hear traces of Gogol or Isaac Babel in Iczkovits’ voice, but they’re only traces.... Iczkovits is a superb talent, and this novel is a resounding success. As witty as it is wise, [The Slaughterman’s Daughter] is a profoundly moving caper through the Russian empire.” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

“Approaches history in a fabulist style reminiscent of Sholem Aleichem and his disciples.... The folktale tradition evoked in the storytelling has an estimable history, but perhaps even more old-fashioned is this novel’s length and leisurely tempo...I appreciated the pace.... Today it would be a quick drive to Minsk; once upon a time the trip was the stuff of epics.” (Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal)

"Offbeat, picaresque...full of invention and surprises. Stories nest inside stories, like Russian dolls. Iczkovits mixes real history, fable, and the products of his imagination into an intoxicating, thoroughly enjoyable brew." (Nick Rennison, The Sunday Times, London)

People who viewed this also viewed...

Daughters of the Dust Audiobook By Julie Dash cover art
Daughters of the Dust By: Julie Dash
Tyll Audiobook By Daniel Kehlmann, Ross Benjamin - translator cover art
Tyll By: Daniel Kehlmann, and others
Between Two Moons Audiobook By Aisha Abdel Gawad cover art
Between Two Moons By: Aisha Abdel Gawad
In the Beauty of the Lilies Audiobook By John Updike cover art
In the Beauty of the Lilies By: John Updike
Sword Stone Table Audiobook By Swapna Krishna, Jenn Northington cover art
Sword Stone Table By: Swapna Krishna, and others
All over Creation Audiobook By Ruth Ozeki cover art
All over Creation By: Ruth Ozeki
The Majority Audiobook By Elizabeth L. Silver cover art
The Majority By: Elizabeth L. Silver
My Beloved Life Audiobook By Amitava Kumar cover art
My Beloved Life By: Amitava Kumar
The Incorrigibles Audiobook By Meredith Jaeger cover art
The Incorrigibles By: Meredith Jaeger
Mount Misery Audiobook By Samuel Shem cover art
Mount Misery By: Samuel Shem
Everything Here Is Beautiful Audiobook By Mira T. Lee cover art
Everything Here Is Beautiful By: Mira T. Lee
The Unsettled Audiobook By Ayana Mathis cover art
The Unsettled By: Ayana Mathis
Under the Tamarind Tree Audiobook By Nigar Alam cover art
Under the Tamarind Tree By: Nigar Alam
The Skin and Its Girl Audiobook By Sarah Cypher cover art
The Skin and Its Girl By: Sarah Cypher
A House Among the Trees Audiobook By Julia Glass cover art
A House Among the Trees By: Julia Glass
The Whalebone Theatre Audiobook By Joanna Quinn cover art
The Whalebone Theatre By: Joanna Quinn
The Prisoner's Wife Audiobook By Maggie Brookes cover art
The Prisoner's Wife By: Maggie Brookes
Popisho Audiobook By Leone Ross cover art
Popisho By: Leone Ross
Most relevant  
I was nervous in the beginning for this book, a sister loses her money and I thought it was just going to be a story of a downfall. But it is a Coen Brothers-esque comedy of errors. Based in late 1800s Settlement of Pale, it contains every type of person who lived in the area, each character gets a full back story. It touches on the political landscape of the times, over my head but interesting none-the-less. After I realized it wasn’t solely about a downfall, I couldn’t stop listening. I listened to the last chapter a few times it was so good.

A Yiddish Coen Brothers

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Loved it: unique, original and funny!!! Fanny is an incredible protagonist. And Zizek broke my heart.

Amazing story, amazing read

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

The author’s superb evocation of rural Jewish life in the Pale before the Russian revolution blends seamlessly with fantasy-like scenes of Jewish power wielded by the novel’s female central character. The book’s spectacular narrator is Tovah Feldshuh.

Magic realism in the Pale of Settlement

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I loved this book. Perhaps because of my Eastern European/Jewish roots, it resonated with me deeply. Part satire and caricature, part a depiction of a culture destroyed by war and persecution, the story was captivating. At times it was laugh out loud funny and at others full of pathos with the many varied and colorful characters lacking in opportunity and fulfillment. The accented narration was perfect for the story and made it come alive, capturing the humor and the culture.

Evocative of a time long gone

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Historical fiction at it's best ! An amazing read, you are transported to the late 1890's and are totally immersed in the adventure. I did not want this story to end. The plot, characters, setting, humor hit the mark. Extremely difficult in a translation, Orr Scharf did an amazing job. Tovah Feldshuh was an excellent narrator. She gave every single character a personality.
I hope that Yaniv Iczkovits has a sequel in the works or at the very least another novel to be published soon.

Historical fiction at it's best

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Overall I enjoyed this book very much though at times the sheer agony of the lives of the main characters was difficult to read through. I felt that I was coming face to face with the lives of my great grandparents and that was extremely exciting and meaningful for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the accented narration which brought out the Yiddish humor wonderfully.

Jewish history comes alive

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

found narrator annoying, why use galut Jewish accent? they spoke in Polish, Russian, Yiddish. at times funny, at times suspense, but do not understand what they learned from the ordeal! so much agony!! Good authentic characters!

quite an imagination so what is the moral?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

This a a symbolic novel that starts slowly but gains momentum, so I recommend you stick with it. Why the actress chooses to recite the dialogue in yinglish , English with what she imagines a Yiddish speaker speaking in English who didn’t know better, would sound like, is beyond me. Yinglish is an affectation for comic effect, this is a dramatic book.

Realistic or touristic?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

The story is a good story but needs a lot of editing. The narrator overdoes the accents so much I stopped listening and read the book instead.

Way too long

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Finally returned this book because I could no longer stand to listen to the narrator using heavily accented English for all characters throughout. Russian, Polish and Yiddish accents were incredibly distracting and terribly grating. I made it halfway through because the story seems very compelling. The writing is evocative and draws you in - or it would have if it hadn’t been for the narration. I regret not having returned it much sooner, since that would have made it easier to just go to the book in print.
After this experience I would really welcome an ‘accent warning’ so I could stay clear of a book’s narrated version.

The narration - why?????

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.