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Jul 23, 2017liljables rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Sarah Perry's "The Essex Serpent" was longlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction this year, and many folks in the literary sphere were surprised when it didn't make the cut for the shortlist. There are many things I loved about this novel, but I'll just share two: first, it dispels the myth that Victorian England is ancient history. Set just over 100 years ago, the characters in The Essex Serpent are able to ride the Tube, and they enjoy the benefit of electric lights. We might scoff at the idea that people would believe in a sea monster, but in many ways, day-to-day life was not all that different then. Second, and another product of the era, is the delightful tension between faith and science, embodied by the characters of Cora and Will. Both highly educated for the time, but...running in very different circles, shall we say, the dissonance between them kept me engaged in every page of this story.