Melmoth: The Sunday Times Bestseller from the author of The Essex Serpent

(Paperback, Main)

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OBSERVER BEST FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2018

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2019 DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE

Oh friend, take my hand - I've been so lonely!

One winter night in Prague, Helen Franklin encounters her friend Karel, half-mad with fear.

He has come into possession of a mysterious old manuscript, filled with testimonies that speak to Helen from 17th-century England, wartime Czechoslovakia, the sweat-soaked streets of Manila and 1920's Turkey. All of them tell of being followed by a tall, silent woman in black, bearing a terrible message.

Helen reads its contents with intrigue, but everything in her life is about to change.

Reviews

Sarah Perry stands out as an exhilaratingly bold storyteller * Mail on Sunday *
Scary and smart, but also a philosophical inquiry into the nature of love and will. * Washington Post *
Rich, elegant and atmospheric * Irish Times *
A novel that manages that vanishingly rare feat - being at once hugely readable and profoundly important * Observer *
Mythic, ominous and sensitively human, Melmoth is haunting in all the best ways -- Frances Hardinge
This is a beautiful, devastating, brilliant book. It affected me so much I was shaking after I read it. The exquisite, immersive writing compelled me to keep reading even through the horrors described. -- Marian Keyes
Astonishingly dark, rich storytelling, exquisitely balanced between gothic shocks and emotional truth -- Francis Spufford
Sarah Perry is a wonderful writer, the real thing -- Susan Hill
Atmospheric and unsettling, Perry's version works on one level as a creepy ghost story, but its greater purpose is to pose hard questions about suffering, redemption, complicity and our responsibilities to each other. -- Alastair Mabbott * The Herald *
The rich Gothic imagination of Perry's bestselling The Essex Serpent is on sparkling form here, as Melmoth wanders across centuries and continents, linking the stories of all who encounter her in a gloriously multi-layered narrative which is both chilling and redemptive. -- Jane Shilling * Daily Mail *
An ominous story of creeping dread, perfect for the lengthening evenings -- Keeba Roy * The Mail on Sunday *

Author Bio

Sarah Perry is the author of The Essex Serpent and After Me Comes the Flood. She has been the UNESCO City of Literature writer-in-residence in Prague and a Gladstone's Library writer-in-residence. Her work has been translated into twenty languages.