Wed at nineteen, this woman of exceptional intelligence and curiosity was ill-suited for the role of society wife. When Cora Seaborne’s brilliant, domineering husband dies, she steps into her new life as a widow with as much relief as sadness: her marriage was not a happy one. This one does just that.' - Wall Street JournalĪn exquisitely talented young British author makes her American debut with this rapturously acclaimed 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. 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. Perry writes beautifully and sometimes agreeably sharply. “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

I found it so transporting that 48 hours after completing it, I was still resentful to be back home.' - New York Times 'A novel of almost insolent ambition-lush and fantastical, a wild Eden behind a garden 's part ghost story and part natural history lesson, part romance and part feminist parable. 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 Kirkus Review Best Book of 2017 and a Washington Post Notable Work of Fiction.

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