Description: "Originally published in the United Kingdom in 2014 by Serpent's Tail, an imprint of Profile Books Ltd."--Copyright page.
Brief description:
Sarah Perry is the internationally bestselling author of The Essex Serpent, Melmoth, and After Me Comes the Flood. She lives in England.
Review Quotes:
"Inexplicably gripping from the first page ...a hypnotic performance with an understated, dreamlike conviction." - Sunday Times
"An original and haunting book...a mix of elegant, alluring, but subtly sinister characters...a talented writer." - Daily Mail (UK)
"Perry's work harnesses the mythic power of religious and historical texts to lend weight and wonderment...she is adept at peeling back the skin to reveal a detailed anatomy of psychological motivation...A gripping, memorable, impressive debut." - Independent on Sunday (UK)
"Impressive....Casts a spell that is at once sinister and seductive...We search for our own meaning while succumbing to Perry's elegant prose and dark magic." - Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Atmospheric, haunting, disturbing." - Wall Street Journal
"A dark, marvelous novel...pour yourself a cool drink and bask in a dazzling new writing talent." - Daily Telegraph
"Deeply creepy and startlingly well-written." - Times Literary Supplement
"Like Shirley Jackson, Carmen Maria Machado, and other evocative masters of the gothic, Perry circles closer to answers without ever dispelling the magic that holds her narrative in breathless suspense. A mysterious fable about honesty and deceit, love and self-loathing, and our sometimes-doomed quests for inner peace."
- Kirkus Reviews
"A beautiful, dream-like, unsettling narrative in which every word, like a small jewel, feels carefully chosen, considered and placed. Rarely do debut novels come as assured and impressive as this one." - Sarah Waters
"A taut summer thriller." - Harper's Bazaar
"Will haunt the reader long after the final page." - Guardian