However, that doesn’t mean I didn’t think the book was worth reading, or that I didn’t enjoy it. Yet I felt there was no story to speak of, no direction to the tale. Once I finished the book, I felt rather than this being a story, with a beginning, middle and end, what you have is a snapshot into the lives and thoughts of a range of characters, all of whom were well-drawn, authentic, interesting and entertaining.
I do love it when fiction is a source of fact! How interesting to learn that it wasn’t, or that Essex suffered an earthquake which registered 4.6 on the Richter scale. Naturally, not believing Essex to be inundated by dragons, I’d wondered if the one in this story was the same. I’m not sure what is about Essex but they sure do like their myths of dragons and serpents! I had been introduced to the story of another serpent, which hails from just down the road from where this book is set, by Him-Indoors, in a place called Wormingford. (From The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry, page 217) I’ve always said there are no mysteries, only things we don’t yet know, but lately I’ve thought not even knowledge takes all the strangeness from the world. The depth of feeling that the inhabitants of Aldwinter share are matched by their city counterparts as they strive to find the courage to express and understand their deepest desires, and strongest fears. At the same time, the novel explores the boundaries of love and friendship and the allegiances that we have to one another. Moving between Essex and London, myth and modernity, Cora Seaborne’s spirited search for the Essex Serpent encourages all around her to test their allegiance to faith or reason in an age of rapid scientific advancement.
The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry was my January book for the From My Bookshelf Challenge 2023.Ī richly written tale, full of interesting characters, vivid settings and beautiful prose.
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