Essex water poet in the Guardian

Chelmsford's Sarah Perry                          Picture: Jamie Drew

Great interview with Sarah Perry, author of The Essex Serpent, in today's Guardian. As befits a Gothic novelist, she had an unusual upbringing in Chelmsford in a strict Baptist family. The youngest of five daughters, she attended the wonderfully-named Ebenezer Strict and Particular Baptist Chapel. She aways felt an outsider at school, before losing her faith in her twenties. No wonder The Essex Serpent has such evocative descriptions of the Victorian crisis between faith and science, all set on the Blackwater estuary. It's also sad to read that she has contracted Graves Disease, an auto-immune disorder. She jokes: “I know! It was one of the first things I said: I’m a gothic novelist with Graves’ disease.” Let's hope she manages to get it cured and write another great book. Click on the link to read the whole piece.