An NPR and Kirkus Review Best Book of 2017, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and a Washington Post Notable
Work of Fiction. Winner of the British Book Awards Fiction Book of the Year and overall Book of the Year, selected as
the Waterstones Book of the Year, and a Costa Book Award Finalist
"A novel of almost insolent ambition--lush and fantastical, a wild Eden behind a garden gate...it's part ghost story and
part natural history lesson, part romance and part feminist parable. I found it so transporting that 48 hours after
completing it, I was still resentful to be back home." -New York Times
“An irresistible new novel…the most delightful heroine since Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice…By the end, The
Essex Serpent identifies a mystery far greater than some creature ‘from the illuminated margins of a manuscript’:
friendship.” -Washington Post
"Richly enjoyable... Ms. Perry writes beautifully and sometimes agreeably sharply... The Essex Serpent is a wonderfully
satisfying novel. Ford Madox Ford thought the glory of the novel was its ability to make the reader think and feel at
the same time. This one does just that." -Wall Street Journal
An exquisitely talented young British author makes her American debut with this rapturously accled historical novel,
set in late nineteenth-century England, about an intellectually minded young widow, a pious vicar, and a rumored
mythical serpent that explores questions about science and religion, skepticism, and faith, independence and love.
When Cora Seaborne’s brilliant, domineering husband dies, she steps into her new life as a widow with as much as
sadness: her marriage was not a happy one. Wed at nineteen, this woman of exceptional intelligence and curiosity was
ill-suited for the role of society wife. Seeking refuge in fresh air and open space in the wake of the funeral, Cora
leaves London for a visit to coastal Essex, accompanied by her inquisitive and obsessive eleven-year old son, Francis,
and the boy’s nanny, Martha, her fiercely protective friend.
While admiring the sites, Cora learns of an intriguing rumor that has arisen further up the estuary, of a fearsome
creature said to roam the marshes cling human lives. After nearly 300 years, the mythical Essex Serpent is said to
have returned, taking the life of a young man on New Year’s Eve. A keen amateur naturalist with no patience for religion
or superstition, Cora is immediately enthralled, and certain that what the local people think is a magical sea beast may
be a previously undiscovered species. Eager to investigate, she is introduced to local vicar William Ransome. Will, too,
is suspicious of the rumors. But unlike Cora, this man of faith is convinced the rumors are caused by moral panic, a
flight from true belief.
These seeming sites who agree on nothing soon find themselves inexorably drawn together and torn apart—an intense
relationship that will change both of their lives in ways entirely unexpected.
Hailed by Sarah Waters as "a work of great intelligence and charm, by a hugely talented author," The Essex Serpent is
"irresistible . . . you can feel the influences of Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens, and
Hilary Mantel channeled by Perry in some sort of Victorian séance. This is the best new novel I’ve read in years" (Daily
Telegraph).
- An NPR and Kirkus Review Best Book of 2017, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and a Washington Post Notable Work of Fiction. Winner of the British Book Awards Fiction Book of the Year and overall Book of the Year, selected as the Waterstones Book of the Year, and a Costa Book Award Finalist.