The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

It can be a good thing when you check out a library book that has other people waiting for it: it makes you read really fast because you can't renew it and extend your time. I fear if I'd had more time to read The Essex Serpent I may have called it quits and never finished it. As it was, I stayed up late last night and am happy to say I turned the last page and now know the story of the Essex Serpent. 

I have to say this wasn't the novel I expected; I blame myself for not paying too much attention to other people's reviews.  My curiosity was taken by the story of a woman in search of a mythical creature that may or may not exist. There is so much more to Sarah Perry's novel; it took me in a very different direction. Why do we believe in mythical creatures? What does it do to test our belief systems, and our faith in God?  Why would such creatures exist, except to punish us for our transgressions? People are quick to blame every bad accident, death, or crop failure on that unknown thing. We are being punished because we're bad, somehow.  

In Victorian England, Cora Seaborne is newly widowed, and leaves London to travel to Essex with her companion Martha and her young son Francis.  Fascinated by fossils, nature, and geology, Cora is finally free to pursue her interests with wild abandon. Rumors of a sea serpent in Blackwater have begun to make the people of Aldwinter, the village near Blackwater, very uncomfortable.  They turn to William Ransome, the village rector, to provide comfort and explanations.  Through friends, William and Cora connect, and she's invited down to Aldwinter to visit William and his wife and children.  Here begins the real story:  William and Cora.  Fast friends, they find a shared interest in nature, and enjoy arguing with each other.  It's pretty obvious they fall in love, but neither is fully aware.  Williams' wife, Stella, is a lovely woman suffering from tuberculosis.  Cora loves Stella, and does her utmost to ignore her growing feelings for William.  It's an interesting love triangle; Stella sees the closeness of her husband and friend, and is happy he has someone to share his interests with; Cora dresses as mannish as possible to keep any femininity at bay.  William loves his wife and only understands he loves Cora in one lightning moment, months into their friendship.  

Meanwhile, Martha is involved in solving housing issues for the poor in London, and has convinced a wealthy doctor to become part of the solution.  There's also Luke Garrett, another London surgeon madly in love with Cora, but those feelings aren't returned.  His story starts out slow, but towards the end of the novel, he becomes more of a focus.  

I spent a lot of time trying to pull all of the pieces of this plot together.  I'm sure I'm missing something because I don't have anyone to help me pick apart the storyline.  What I did see was the evolution of England and its people from a place of old beliefs and superstitions to an industrialized nation focused on money and the "machine".  It is the background to this story; and I felt a bit melancholy reading this--it felt like an ode to a way of life that will never be again.  William is the anchor to the old way of life for the people of Aldwinter, and he can't explain why the creature exists, and what it wants.  He grapples with spirit versus nature.  

So is there actually an Essex serpent?  You do get this answer, and it's pretty fantastic.  I won't spoil it, but I loved it.  And I won't tell you what happens to the multiple love triangles, because that's for you to discover.  Yes, there is more than one love triangle!  Sarah Perry's writing is so so good.  I could smell the salt air, the mud and clay; I could see the forests and feel the damp breeze. You feel a bit of a naturalist yourself reading Cora's adventure.  

Rating:  4/6 for a very different Victorian tale about faith, belief, the unknown, love, freedom, the astonishing natural world around us, and our struggle to balance what we know with the unknown. 



Available in hardcover, e-book, audio book, and large print.  

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The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

The Witchfinder's Sister by Beth Underdown

If you're a long time follower of the Bookalicious Babe, well...you know I have a soft spot for witches.  As in I read a heck of a lot of fiction that features witches.  I believe the first actual "paper" I wrote for school in 8th grade was all about the Salem witch trials.  

Yes, I wrote a paper about the Salem witch trials and I attended a private Catholic school. And it was 1980. Oops. I don't even remember what I wrote about, but I'm pretty sure I played it safe and just regurgitated what my library books put down as history. I'm pretty sure my opinion today would have gotten me a trip to the principal's office and a grounding at home.  It's obvious my interest in witches has been around for a very long time, so when I saw this title on Goodreads I had to request it from the library.  

I knew this novel was going to be a bit heavy, so I kept putting off reading it.  I finally dived in this past week, not knowing quite what to expect.  It takes place in Essex, England in 1645.  Alice Hopkins is returning home to the small village of Manningtree after her husband dies in a shooting incident in London.  She is a few months pregnant, broke, and the only family left in England is her younger brother, Matthew Hopkins.  They haven't seen each other for five years; she married a servant's son, and Matthew was, to put in today's terms, pissed.  Meanwhile their mother (Alice's step-mother) has died, and Alice hasn't told Matthew her husband is dead, too.  She's had five miscarriages and doesn't want to even think about her current pregnancy for fear of losing it, too.  So she keeps mum about it, hoping to reveal it when she's farther along and closer to her due date.  

Matthew Hopkins has grown up and prospered since Alice left.  He owns an inn, where Alice comes to stay.  He's grown a beard to hid the awful scars on his face and neck that resulted from falling into a fire when he was a baby.  The exact how of that incident has never been explained; but a wet nurse was blamed and lost her job over it.  

Oh--did I mention that Matthew is a witchfinder?  

What starts out as a few people taking revenge on women in the village soon spreads across England, with people accusing pretty much anyone that looked different, lived alone, was poor, or involved in the healing arts.  It was not a time to have any enemies.  Matthew would travel to other villages by horse with a female servant, and spend hours questioning  and examining women under very cruel conditions until they broke and told him what he wanted to hear.  The women were then taken to the gaol, to await trial.  Usually, in times past, the women would be let off after a few months.  But this time, the atmosphere in England was different, and people were out for blood.  

Alice's mother-in-law Bridget had worked for the family when Alice and Matthew were younger.  Matthew doesn't like Bridget (for reasons you will find out as the story unfolds), and Alice is terrified Bridget will be on Matthew's list of potential witches.  She challenges Matthew on his path of destruction, but realizes he's got the bug, and is not one to be challenged.  Matthew is a man with a mission and plenty of zeal.  He's not a fan of women.  

The plot moves fairly slowly; not a whole lot happens over the course of the book.  But, that slowness of plot gives you ample time to feel the dread building as the witch hunts intensify and Matthew grows further apart from Alice.  Family secrets, the real story behind Matthew's childhood accident, and the political atmosphere of England at the time make for one unsettling book.  When you can't trust anyone around you, and you can't trust anything to be real...just what do you do to save yourself? Can Alice save anyone else?

I thought there would be more movement in the book, but I'm not unhappy with the story.  It was actually pretty good, and had a few twists.  You'll be saying "Girrrl....you go Alice!" as she starts to grow a spine and stand up to Matthew---at her own peril.  

If you're a fan of witchy fiction, you'll want to read this.  Matthew Hopkins was an actual witchfinder in England, but that's about all that is factual in this novel. Not a nice man!

Rating:  3/6 for a historical novel set in the midst of England's witch hysteria, with an unsettling atmosphere that will keep you reading even when you dread what's coming next. 

Available in hardcover and ebook. 

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The Witchfinder's Sister by Beth Underdown