Sarah Perry Popular Books

Sarah Perry Biography & Facts

Sarah Grace Perry (born 28 November 1979) is an English author. She has had three novels published, all by Serpent's Tail: After Me Comes the Flood (2014), The Essex Serpent (2016) and Melmoth (2018). Her work has been translated into 22 languages. She was appointed Chancellor of the University of Essex in July 2023, officially starting in this role on 1 August 2023. Early life and education Perry was born, the youngest of five sisters, in Chelmsford, Essex, into a family of devout Christians who were members of a Strict Baptist church. Growing up with almost no access to contemporary art, culture, and writing, she filled her time with classical music, classic novels and poetry, and church-related activities. She says this early immersion in old literature and the King James Bible profoundly influenced her writing style. She attended Chelmsford County High School for Girls. She married her husband Robert Perry at the age of 20. She graduated from Anglia Polytechnic University (now Anglia Ruskin University) with a degree in English Literature then worked briefly in the Civil Service. Perry has a PhD in creative writing from Royal Holloway University where her supervisor was Sir Andrew Motion. Her doctoral thesis was on the Gothic in the writing of Iris Murdoch, and Perry has subsequently published an article on the Gothic in Aeon magazine. I wrote about the power of place in my PhD thesis, particularly the importance of buildings in the Gothic (a genre which I find myself inhabiting without ever having meant to). Fiction in the Gothic inheritance makes much of the potent importance of the interior, from the castle where Jonathan Harker finds himself holed up to Thornfield, and from the suburban homes in Hilary Mantel's Beyond Black to the ghastly crypts in The Monk. In 2013, she was a writer in residence at Gladstone's Library.Perry won the 2004 Shiva Naipaul Memorial prize for travel writing for 'A little unexpected', an article about her experiences in the Philippines.In June 2018, Perry was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in its "40 Under 40" initiative. Novels After Me Comes the Flood Perry's debut novel, After Me Comes the Flood, was released in 2014 by Serpent's Tail, receiving high praise from reviewers including those of The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian. The novel tells the story of a man named John Cole who wanders into a strange world while seeking out his brother amidst a drought. John Burnside, writing for The Guardian, called it "extraordinary" and "a remarkable debut".|title= The Essex Serpent Her second novel, The Essex Serpent, was also published by Serpent's Tail in 2016. Inspired by the myth of a sea serpent on the Essex coast, it tells the story of a Victorian widow, Cora Seaborne, and the friends who surround her after the death of her bullying husband. Cora is intrigued and compelled by the possibility of the serpent's return, but clashes with the local vicar, William Ransome, who is determined to lay superstition to rest in his rural parish. The novel is again written in a gothic style, and explores themes of goodness, friendship, superstition, and love and once again received positive reviews; John Burnside, quoted on the book's cover, writes: "Had Charles Dickens and Bram Stoker come together to write the great Victorian novel, I wonder if it would have surpassed The Essex Serpent? No way of knowing, but with only her second outing, Sarah Perry establishes herself as one of the finest fiction writers working in Britain today."The Essex Serpent was nominated in the Novel category for the 2016 Costa Book Awards and was named Waterstones Book of the Year 2016. It was placed on the long list for the 2017 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction. It was adapted for a limited series on Apple TV+ in 2022. Melmoth Her third novel is titled Melmoth, and was inspired by Charles Maturin's gothic novel Melmoth the Wanderer. It was published by Serpent's Tail in October 2018. Melmoth was shortlisted for the 2019 Dylan Thomas Prize. References External links Official website Sarah Perry at Rogers, Coleridge, and White literary agency. Discover the Sarah Perry popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Sarah Perry books.

Best Seller Sarah Perry Books of 2024

  • The House on Vesper Sands synopsis, comments

    The House on Vesper Sands

    Paraic O’Donnell

    An Oprah Daily and CrimeReads Best Historical Novel of 2021Named a Library Reads Pick, Apple Books' Best Book, Amazon Fiction & Literature's “Best of the Month,” and a Powell's...

  • The Hugh Corbett Omnibus synopsis, comments

    The Hugh Corbett Omnibus

    Paul Doherty

    Delve into the world of medieval sleuth Hugh Corbett in the first three mysteries featuring the intrepid detective, from acclaimed historical author Paul Doherty. Includes Satan in...

  • Isabella and the Strange Death of Edward II synopsis, comments

    Isabella and the Strange Death of Edward II

    Paul Doherty

    The story of a queen known as 'the shewolf' and a fresh view of an infamous murder...In a colourful nonfiction narrative, which provides an evocative setting for a scramble for wea...

  • Domina synopsis, comments

    Domina

    Paul Doherty

    One woman's thirst for power changes history forever...Domina is a dramatic historical novel about the turbulent life and death of Agrippina, Empress of Rome, from the master of hi...

  • The Pied Piper of Hamelin synopsis, comments

    The Pied Piper of Hamelin

    Russell Brand

    With this first book in Russell Brand’s Trickster Tales series, the famed comedian, actor, and bestselling author delivers a hilarious retelling of an old fairytale favorite that w...

  • The Toymakers synopsis, comments

    The Toymakers

    Robert Dinsdale

    An enchanting, magical novel set in a mysterious toyshop perfect for fans of Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus, Stephanie Garber's Caraval and Jessie Burton's The Miniaturist.Th...

  • That Bonesetter Woman synopsis, comments

    That Bonesetter Woman

    Frances Quinn

    Preorder UNSINKABLE, the astonishing new novel by Frances Quinn, coming February 2025. ‘What a heroine Endurance Proudfoot is! I loved her from the start. An unconventional woman w...

  • A Little Bit of Karma synopsis, comments

    A Little Bit of Karma

    ReShonda Tate Billingsley

    The secrets and lies that exist within a seemingly perfect marriage are explored in this “secondchance tale of romantic suspense” (Booklist) from the nationally bestselling and awa...

  • Effi Briest synopsis, comments

    Effi Briest

    Theodor Fontane & Hugh Rorrison

    Unworldly young Effi Briest is married off to Baron von Innstetten, an austere and ambitious civil servant twice her age, who has little time for his new wife. Isolated and bored, ...

  • The Tenderness of Wolves synopsis, comments

    The Tenderness of Wolves

    Stef Penney

    10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY EDITION FEATURES READING GROUP QUESTIONS AND NEW MATERIAL FROM STEF'S UPCOMING EPIC NOVEL, UNDER A POLE STARCOSTA AWARD WINNER and WORLDWIDE BESTSELLER. A brea...

  • The Book in Room 316 synopsis, comments

    The Book in Room 316

    ReShonda Tate Billingsley

    #1 nationally bestselling and awardwinning author ReShonda Tate Billingsley delivers another moving, evocative, and timely novel about how a small seed of hope can change the cours...

  • The Square of Sevens synopsis, comments

    The Square of Sevens

    Laura Shepherd-Robinson

    This “intricately plotted, epic” (The Times, London) international bestsellerin the vein of the vivid novels of Sarah Waters and Sarah Perryfollows an orphaned fortune teller in 18...

  • Surface With Daring synopsis, comments

    Surface With Daring

    Douglas Reeman

    Hiding, lying in wait on the sea bed, is EX16.Though one of the most important ships in the Royal Navy, she's not much to look at; she's only 54 feet long, with no defensive armame...