The Essex Serpent: A Novel Paperback – April 24, 2018 by Sarah Perry (Custom House)

No spoilers in this review. OK, so I was sooooo excited to get this book and I am a bit disappointed. But it isn't because it is a poorly written book. It is a good book, good writing, good characters -- it is just that the book jacket description does not match the book hardly at all. You need to know this so that you are not disappointed as I was. The book jacket makes the book sound like it is about a little village in Ireland where people are dying or missing and it is blamed on a mythical/historical sea serpent. A natural scientist, a woman named Cora, goes to the village to investigate. This is all somewhat true of the story, but the sea serpent part is really a background story and does not dominate the narrative at all. It's almost a second thought. If I could completely ignore the book jacket description, I would say that this book is about Cora, a female scientist in late 1800s London, and her relationships with men, her unhappy marriage, her lovers, her difficulties in relating to her odd son, her hopes and dreams. The story is more about relationships, love and loss, friendships, and less so about women's dreams during this time period. A great deal of the dialogue is about religion vs science but it is only lightly worked. There were not many scary parts, only tiny bits and pieces scattered here and there throughout the book. The characters are well defined and interesting, though I needed to keep a notebook with names and notes at first to keep them straight. I rarely like to have more than 4 characters in a book and this had several to keep track of. The situations were believable. I only want to point out that if you are looking for something a bit more magical, a bit more along the lines of cryptozoology with the possibility of a sea serpent or a tracking down of a sociopathic killer in a small Irish village, you will not find that here. The book jacket is misleading, which is not the fault of the author. It is however a wonderfully written and interesting book and I do recommend it to those who enjoy stories with interesting characters, especially of women who are challenging societal roles.