The Glutton by A.K. Blakemore: review

The Glutton by A. K. Blakemore is a bold and unsettling historical horror novel set in France of the late 1700’s that lingers long after the final page.

Synopsis: The Glutton

The Glutton is a striking work of historical fiction, drawing inspiration from the true story of Tarare, a French peasant whose extraordinary and insatiable appetite became both his curse and his infamy.

The novel opens in 1798, within the dim corridors of a hospital in Versailles. A young nun, Sister Perpetué, is assigned to watch over a patient whose presence unsettles those around him.

Gaunt yet swollen, fragile yet somehow monstrous, the man is said to be dying from having swallowed a golden fork. Whispers swirl through the halls about his past: rumours of grotesque appetites, unthinkable acts, and a hunger that could never be satisfied.

From there, Blakemore traces Tarare’s life back to its beginnings in rural poverty.

Raised by his widowed mother, Tarare is a boy filled with tenderness for the natural world and the small sanctities of faith.

However, the tenderness of childhood gives way to a harsher reality. Displaced by circumstance and swept into the violent upheavals of revolutionary France.

Tarare finds himself caught in a cycle of exploitation, spectacle, and survival—his unusual hunger shaping his path at every turn.

Written with Blakemore’s characteristically lyrical and unflinching prose, The Glutton is not only a story about one man’s extraordinary condition, but also a meditation on human desire, cruelty, and endurance in an age of chaos.

Review: The Glutton Killer

The Glutton is a bold and unsettling historical novel that lingers long after the final page.

Set in late 18th-century France, in the years around the Revolution, it follows the harrowing story of Tarare: a young man with an insatiable hunger that consumes his body, his mind, and eventually, his entire existence.

The novel opening scene is in 1798, when Tarare is confined to a hospital under the care of nuns.

Exhausted by his condition and seeking release through death, he recounts his extraordinary and disturbing life to a sister who tends to him.

This narrative structure is part confessional and reflection, allows readers to witness the shifting contours of Tarare’s self-awareness and despair.

Blakemore’s choice to anchor Tarare’s personal tragedy against the backdrop of the French Revolution is inspired. His endless appetite mirrors the unchecked greed and excess of the monarchy that collapsed in 1789.

While the aftermath of revolution mirrors deterioration and a grotesque reminder of how excess, hunger, privilege and deprivation, often sit side by side.

Thematically

The Glutton is about more than one man’s affliction. It is an exploration of bodily obsession, the limits of human endurance, and the way society views and exploits difference.

In Tarare’s story, there are shades of exploitation for spectacle, as he becomes both an object of horror and fascination, mirroring how modern society continues to consume extreme stories for entertainment.

Stylistically, Blakemore writes with lyrical sharpness, blending the grotesque with the poetic. Her prose is visceral, sometimes shocking, but never gratuitous. Instead, it immerses the reader in the brutality of the time and the psychological torment of its protagonist.

Who should read this novel?

The Glutton will appeal to readers who enjoy historical fiction that pushes boundaries, especially novels that weave political upheaval with deeply personal tragedy.

In addition, readers who appreciate fiction that reflects on contemporary issues, in this case, consumerism, obsession, and the human cost of excess, through the lens of history.

Conclusion

The Glutton is not a comfortable read, nor is it meant to be. Instead, it is a powerful and provocative work that blends history, allegory, and bodily horror to force readers to consider the true cost of appetite, whether personal, political, or cultural.

For those willing to embrace its darkness, it is a novel of extraordinary resonance and contemporary relevance.

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Mark.