Cora Seaborne, jeune veuve férue de paléontologie, quitte Londres en compagnie de son fils Francis et de sa nourrice Martha pour s’installer à Aldwinter, dans l’Essex, où elle se lie avec le pasteur William Ransome et sa famille. Elle s’intéresse à la rumeur qui met tout le lieu en émoi : le Serpent de l’Essex, monstre marin aux allures de dragon apparu deux siècles plus tôt, aurait-il ressurgi de l’estuaire du Blackwater ? Dans un cadre marqué par une brume traversée d’étranges lumières, Cora Seaborne construit sa liberté. En cette fin d’ère victorienne dont les problèmes sociaux ne doivent pas faire oublier les triomphes, nous suivons, au gré de leurs aventures et de leur correspondance, des hommes qui s’acceptent tels qu’ils devraient être, des femmes qui découvrent devoir être ce qu’elles sont et un monstre effroyable qui redevient ce qu’il était. « Un roman irrésistible... L’héroïne la plus délicieuse depuis Elizabeth Bennet dans Orgueil et Préjugés... Vers la fin, le Serpent de l’Essex révèle un mystère bien plus grand qu’une créature “détachée des marges enluminées d’un manuscrit” : l’amitié. » Washington Post « Le Serpent de l’Essex est un merveilleux roman sur les mécanismes de la vie, de la croyance et de l’amour, sur la science et la religion, les secrets, les mystères, les mouvements compliqués et inattendus du cœur humain... C’est un si bon roman que ses pages semblent illuminées de l’intérieur. » Helen Macdonald

**SHORTLISTED FOR THE NERO BOOK AWARDS NON-FICTION AWARD 2025** 'Please read this book. It may very well change how you live' Rachel Clarke 'I was spellbound' Kathryn Mannix This is not a book about grief: it is a book about dying, the universal aspect of life, and it is a book about family, and care and love. Sarah Perry's father-in-law David died in the autumn of 2022, only nine days after a cancer diagnosis. Until then he'd been a healthy and happy man: he loved stamp collecting, fish and chips, comic novels, his local church, and the Antiques Roadshow. He was in some ways a very ordinary man, but as he began to die, it became clear how extraordinary he was. Sarah and her husband Robert nursed David themselves at home. They bathed and cleaned and dressed him, comforted him in pain, sat with him through waking and sleeping, talked to him, sang to him, prayed with him. Day by day and hour by hour, they witnessed what happens to the body and spirit as death approaches and finally arrives. ‘We cannot be but somewhat changed by this remarkable book’ Daily Telegraph 'By the end I was left shaken, deeply moved' Christos Tsiolkas 'This book will be a lifeline for so many people' Seán Hewitt ‘Sarah is in a league of her own as a writer – I don't know how she does it’ Sara Collins 'To read this book is a privilege, a gift on the craft of dying' Amy Key

London, 1893. When Cora Seaborne's controlling husband dies, she steps into her new life as a widow with as much relief as sadness. Along with her son Francis - a curious, obsessive boy - she leaves town for Essex, in the hope that fresh air and open space will provide refuge. On arrival, they hear rumours that the mythical Essex Serpent, once said to roam the marshes claiming lives, has returned to the coastal parish of Aldwinter. Cora, a keen amateur naturalist, is enthralled, convinced that what the locals think is a magical beast may be a yet-undiscovered species. As she sets out on its trail, she is introduced to William Ransome, Aldwinter's vicar, who is also deeply suspicious of the rumours, but thinks they are a distraction from true faith. As he tries to calm his parishioners, Will and Cora strike up an intense relationship, and although they agree on absolutely nothing, they find themselves at once drawn together and torn apart, affecting each other in ways that surprise them both.

Unlikely best friends Thomas and Grace are bound together by questions of faith, love and astronomy in this dazzling summer read from the #1 bestselling author. READERS HAVE FALLEN IN LOVE WITH ENLIGHTENMENT: ‘Vibrates with wonder’ ‘I absolutely loved it’ ‘Full of magic’ ‘Exquisite...strange and wonderful and unpredictable’ ‘This book tore my heart apart then put it back together again’ Thomas Hart and Grace Macaulay have lived all their lives in the small Essex town of Aldleigh. Though separated in age by three decades, the pair are kindred spirits – torn between their religion and their desire to explore the world. But their friendship is ruptured by the arrival of love. Over the course of twenty years, Thomas and Grace will find their lives brought back into orbit as a devastating story of passion and scientific adventure unfolds and Aldleigh’s unique mysteries are revealed. ‘It’s glorious... A beautiful, memorable novel’ OBSERVER ‘Sarah Perry just gets better and better’ INDEPENDENT ‘Absorbing... A romance worthy of Emily Brontë’ WALL STREET JOURNAL ‘Gorgeous...ethereal’ GUARDIAN ‘Sarah Perry creates worlds to disappear into... Beautiful, vivid’ BBC *LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024* *A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE GUARDIAN, DAILY TELEGRAPH AND DAILY MAIL*

Illustrations present such imaginative possibilities as worms with wheels, caterpillar toothpaste, and whales in outer space.

In a "Gothic stunner" a ghost roams through history in "a scary novel that chills to the bone even as it points the way to a warmer, more humane, place" ( New York Times Book Review ). From the internationally bestselling author of The Essex Serpent, now an Apple TV+ Series starring Claire Danes It has been years since Helen Franklin left England. In Prague, working as a translator, she has found a sanctuary. That changes when her friend Karel discovers a mysterious letter that speaks of Melmoth the Witness, who hunts her prey through the ages, dooming those she captures to timeless, itinerant solitude. To Helen it all seems the stuff of unenlightened fantasy. But then Karel disappears . . . Spanning continents and centuries, Sarah Perry's breathtaking novel is a masterpiece of suspense as well as a profound investigation of the eternal nature of love and compassion. "Masterful . . . scary and smart, working as a horror story but also a philosophical inquiry into the nature of will and love. . . . complex . . . and . . . rewarding." — The Washington Post "A master of atmosphere." — Wall Street Journal "Fierce [and] full-hearted." —NPR Book of the Year "A gothic masterwork." - Entertainment Weekly "Perry is changing what a modern-day ghost story can look like. . . . A chilling novel ." — Kirkus Reviews, starred review "This fever dream of a novel will prove as compelling and all-consuming as The Essex Serpent. — Library Journal, starred review "Rich in gothic tropes and sinister atmosphere. . . . Perry's heartbreaking, horrifying monster confronts the characters not just with the uncanny but also with the human." — Publishers Weekly, starred review

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A fierce memoir of a mother's murder, a daughter's coming-of-age in the wake of immense loss, and her mission to know the woman who gave her life

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The debut novel by the bestselling author of THE ESSEX SERPENT One hot summer's day, John Cole decides to leave his life behind. He shuts up the bookshop no one ever comes to and drives out of London. When his car breaks down and he becomes lost on an isolated road, he goes looking for help, and stumbles into the grounds of a grand but dilapidated house. Its residents welcome him with open arms - but there's more to this strange community than meets the eye. They all know him by name, they've prepared a room for him, and claim to have been waiting for him all along. Who are these people? And what do they intend for John? Elegant, gently sinister and psychologically complex, After Me Comes the Flood is the haunting debut novel by the author of The Essex Serpent.