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

Sarah Perry

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1788160657 ISBN 13: 9781788160650

Publisher: Serpent's Tail, 2018

Synopsis

THE NEW SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER FROM THE #1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE ESSEX SERPENT

OBSERVER BEST FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2019 DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE

'A beautiful, devastating, brilliant book' Marian Keyes

'Astonishingly dark, rich storytelling, exquisitely balanced between gothic shocks and emotional truth' Francis Spufford

'Mythic, ominous and sensitively human, Melmoth is haunting in all the best ways' Frances Hardinge

****

Twenty years ago Helen Franklin did something she cannot forgive herself for, and she has spent every day since barricading herself against its memory. But her sheltered life is about to change.

A strange manuscript has come into her possession. It is filled with testimonies from the darkest chapters of human history, which all record sightings of a tall, silent woman in black, with unblinking eyes and bleeding feet: Melmoth, the loneliest being in the world. Condemned to walk the Earth forever, she tries to beguile the guilty and lure them away for a lifetime wandering alongside her.

Everyone that Melmoth seeks out must make a choice: to live with what they've done, or be led into the darkness. Helen can't stop reading, or shake the feeling that someone is watching her. As her past finally catches up with her, she too must choose which path to take.

Exquisitely written, and gripping until the very last page, this is a masterpiece of moral complexity, asking us profound questions about mercy, redemption, and how to make the best of our conflicted world.

About this title

Review:

A novel that manages that vanishingly rare feat - being at once hugely readable and profoundly important ... Melmoth is a good book, one that, for all its uncanny shudders, comes from a place of decency and good faith, a beacon against the darkest times. Perry's masterly piece of postmodern gothic is one of the great achievements of our century and deserves all the prizes and praise that will be heaped upon it (Alex Preston Observer 2018-09-30)

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)

Richly atmospheric, daring and surprising, Melmoth seals Sarah Perry's place as chief architect of literature's gothic revival. (Melissa Harrison)

Striking in form and brave in the questions it asks of us all, moving and terribly beautiful, Melmoth left me troubled and haunted for weeks. (Sam Guglani)

Sarah Perry is a wonderful writer, the real thing. Her new novel Melmoth packs a punch of atmosphere, creepiness, fear and melancholy. I am going to move it off my bedside table because it is haunting my sleep. (Susan Hill)

Mythic, ominous and sensitively human, Melmoth is haunting in all the best ways... including the disquieting ones. (Frances Hardinge)

In rich, lyrical prose, Perry weaves history and myth, human frailty and compassion, into an affecting gothic morality tale for 2018. Like David Mitchell and Sarah Waters, Perry is changing what a modern-day ghost story can look like, challenging her readers to confront the realities of worldwide suffering from which fiction is so often an escape. A chilling novel about confronting our complicity in past atrocities-and retaining the strength and moral courage to strive for the future. (starred Kirkus review)

This is a sobering, disturbing, yet powerful and moving book that cannot fail to impress. (starred Booklist review)

The very notion of Melmoth strikes such an innate chord it's easy to believe this folklore could be true. And isn't that all it takes to create real horror? Perry's beautiful writing ensnares you with the tale of Helen, a translator living in modern-day Prague who uncovers the myth of Melmoth via letters and diary extracts from across the centuries. Sleep well... (Emerald Street)

Book Description:

From the author of THE ESSEX SERPENT comes a dazzlingly inventive and deeply moving novel that speaks urgently to our times

About this edition

• Publisher: Serpent's Tail
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1788160657
• ISBN 13: 9781788160650
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288