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A Washington Post Notable Work of Fiction * Winner of the British
Book Awards Fiction Book of the Year and overall Book of the Year *A
Kirkus Reviews Best Book of The Year * Waterstones Book of the Year
* 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
London, 1893. 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 an unhappy one, and she never suited the role of
society wife. Seeking refuge in fresh air and open space, she leaves the
metropolis for coastal Essex, accompanied by her inquisitive and
obsessive eleven-year-old son, Francis, and the boy's nanny, Martha, her
fiercely protective friend.
Once there, they hear rumors that after nearly three hundred years, the
mythical Essex Serpent, a fearsome creature that once roamed the
marshes, has returned. When a young man is mysteriously killed on New
Year's Eve, the community's dread transforms to terror. Cora, a keen
amateur naturalist with no patience for religion or superstition, is
immediately enthralled, certain that what locals think is a magical sea
beast may be a previously undiscovered species.
Eager to investigate, she is introduced to parish vicar William Ransome,
who is equally suspicious of the rumors but for different reasons: a man
of faith, he is convinced the alarming reports are caused by moral
panic, a flight from the correct and righteous path. As Cora and William
attempt to discover the truth about the Essex Serpent's existence, these
seeming opposites find themselves inexorably drawn together in an
intense relationship that will change both of them in ways entirely
unexpected. And as they search for answers, Cora's London past follows
her to the coast, with striking consequences.
Told with exquisite grace and intelligence, The Essex Serpent
masterfully explores questions of science and religion, skepticism and
faith, but it is most of all a celebration of love, and the many
different--and surprising--guises it can take.
