The Essex Serpent [ebook]
Perry, Sarah, 1979-2016
eBook
THE WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2016 COSTA NOVEL AWARD Sunday Times bestseller 'One of the most memorable historical novels of the past decade' Sunday Times 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.
Main title:
The Essex Serpent [ebook] / Sarah Perry
Author:
Perry, Sarah, 1979-, Author
Work:
Imprint:
[Place of publication not identified] : Profile Books, 2016
Collation:
1 online resource (1 text file)
Biography/History:
Sarah Perry was born in Essex in 1979, and grew up in a deeply religious home. Kept apart from contemporary culture, she spent her childhood immersed in classic literature, Victorian hymns and the King James Bible. She has a PhD in creative writing at Royal Holloway which she completed under the supervision of Andrew Motion. She has been writer in residence at the Gladstone Library and is the winner of a Shiva Naipaul award for travel writing. She lives in Norwich.
ISBN:
9781782832041
Language:
English
BRN:
431992