The Sunday Times bestseller ‘One of the most memorable historical novels of
the past decade’ – Sunday Times Let THE ESSEX SERPENT wrap itself around
you this summer London 1893. When Cora Seaborne's husband dies, she steps into
her new life as a widow with as much relief as sadness: her marriage was not a
happy one, and she never suited the role of society wife. Accompanied by her son
Francis – a curious, obsessive boy – she leaves town for Essex, where she
hopes fresh air and open space will provide the refuge they need. When they take
lodgings in Colchester, rumours reach them from further up the estuary that the
mythical Essex Serpent, once said to roam the marshes claiming human lives, has
returned to the coastal parish of Aldwinter. Cora, a keen amateur naturalist
with no patience for religion or superstition, is immediately enthralled,
convinced that what the local people think is a magical beast may be a
previously undiscovered species. As she sets out on its trail, she is introduced
to William Ransome, Aldwinter's vicar. Like Cora, Will is deeply suspicious of
the rumours, but he thinks they are founded on moral panic, a flight from real
faith.
As he tries to calm his parishioners, he and Cora strike up an intense
relationship, and although they agree on absolutely nothing, they find
themselves inexorably drawn together and torn apart, eventually changing each
other's lives in ways entirely unexpected. Told with exquisite grace and
intelligence, this novel is most of all a celebration of love, and the many
different guises it can take.
Author Biography
Sarah Perry was born in Essex in 1979. She has a PhD in creative writing from
Royal Holloway, and has been the writer in residence at the Gladstone Library
and the UNESCO World City of Literature Writer in Residence in Prague. Her first
novel, After Me Comes the Flood, was longlisted for the Guardian First Book
Award and the Folio Prize, and won the East Anglian Book of the Year Award in
2014. She lives in Norwich.
Shortlist, 2016 Costa Novel Award