5/19/2023 0 Comments The essex serpent book review![]() ![]() ![]() The cast includes characters at every level of society: Cora Seaborne, a young widow who can’t help but be relieved at the death of her emotionally and physically abusive husband and the privilege she’s inherited her bright but withdrawn 11-year old son, Francis Martha, her passionately Marxist companion, dead set on housing reform Charles and Katherine Ambrose, unapologetically wealthy but generous Drs. Perry’s hit on a fruitful seam in British history: Essex in the 17th century was the site of witch trials and a real panic about a mysterious creature in the water, and simultaneously, class resentment was simmering in London. Is it there or isn’t it? Because until we know, we have no idea what kind of book this is-is the beast a judgment from the Almighty? Or an aquatic anomaly, some creature believed extinct but still living? Or is it something completely innocent, warped into a monster by a willing mind? Meanwhile, the characters, vibrant and compelling, sneak up on us and usurp our fascination with the serpent. There’s a lot happening in The Essex Serpent, much of it sleight of hand: Perry has us consumed with the status of the serpent, the very idea of which is terrorizing the villages around the Essex marshes, and drawing studious naturalists from London. ![]()
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