The Essex Serpent

How it reads

The Essex Serpent is historical fiction (historical gothic fiction, specifically), and its dominant mood is eerie. It's atmospheric and uncanny, with a sense that something is wrong. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.

It's set in a small town setting, in the historical past, told in the third person across several viewpoints. Its central concerns are love, faith and nature. In weight it's heavy and literary — denser, more serious, and more demanding of you.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is bittersweet: it resolves, but at a price. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.