The Essex Serpent

Late nineteenth century: scientific and technological progress is gathering speed, and medical debates are in full swing. After her husband’s death, the emancipated widow Cora Seaborne decides to leave London and move to a cozy village in Essex, where the local vicar is Will Ransome. For days now, the village has been agitated by rumors of a mythical serpent that has appeared in the nearby marshes and feeds on human flesh. Cora, an enthusiastic naturalist and devotee of scientific knowledge, does not believe in any fairy-tale dragons and decides to find the cause of these strange stories. She believes the serpent is simply a species of reptile unknown to science, one that should be described for scientific purposes. The vicar, meanwhile, sees in the panic that has seized his flock a threat to faith and therefore also strives to discover the truth as quickly as possible. Advancing toward the truth from different sides, these convinced opponents become drawn into a strange and mysterious story. Graceful, intelligent, and rich in literary play, the novel assumes many guises—detective story, love story, even a novel of manners. Sarah Perry deftly balances on the boundary between the Victorian and the modernist novel: in her book, the reader will find witty Dickensian paupers, love scenes (yes, very much in the manner of Lawrence), and poetic descriptions of nature whose style is perhaps closer to Hamsun or Turgenev. Perry does not follow any single tradition: she rethinks it. At the same time, the novel does not leave the impression of a stylistic or plot jumble—rather, it is a fantasia on historical themes, but one full-blooded and alive.