Sarah Perry can write.
On the back cover of “After Me Comes The Flood” Sophie Hannah is quoted as saying “If she doesn’t win the Booker Prize one day, I’ll be amazed”. I’m inclined to agree. There are perhaps some characteristics shared between the protagonists of “After Me” and her other two novels “Melmoth” and “The Essex Serpent”, but this novel is in many ways very different.
What’s not different is the quality of the writing and the story-telling. There is something haunting and lyrical about it – almost mythical you might say – with the truth veiled in a kind of fog that we, along with the lead character, are trying to find our way through. These are common themes with her other novels, of course: finding Melmoth; trying to discover the secret of the Serpent… Perry also handles writing as a man exceptionally well; there are scenes where she could easily have come unstuck, but does not. You simply wouldn’t know the lead character (male) wasn’t authored by a man.
I can do no ore than recommend the book – perhaps this one above both “Melmoth” and “The Essex Serpent”.
Ian Gouge - Writer 