After Me Comes the Flood Synopsis
The debut novel by the bestselling author of The Essex Serpent. One hot summer's day, John Cole decides to leave his life behind. He shuts up the bookshop no one ever comes to and drives out of London. When his car breaks down and he becomes lost on an isolated road, he goes looking for help, and stumbles into the grounds of a grand but dilapidated house. Its residents welcome him with open arms - but there's more to this strange community than meets the eye. They all know him by name, they've prepared a room for him, and claim to have been waiting for him all along. Who are these people? And what do they intend for John?
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781781259559 |
| Publication date: |
2nd November 2017 |
| Author: |
Sarah Perry |
| Publisher: |
Serpent's Tail |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
231 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Crime and Mystery
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| Other Genres: |
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| Recommendations: |
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Sarah Perry Press Reviews
'A beautiful, dream-like narrative. Rarely do debut novels come as assured and impressive as this one. * Sarah Waters *
Just occasionally you pick up a novel that is inexplicably gripping from the first page - and Perry's debut is one of them -- Phil Barker * Sunday Times *
What makes this novel truly remarkable is its unique vision, its skilful and sophisticated characterisations, and the creation, without unseemly effects, of an atmosphere that will haunt the reader long after the final page * John Burnside, Guardian *
An original and haunting book ... a mix of elegant, alluring, but subtly sinister characters ... a talented writer * Daily Mail *
A dark, marvellous novel ... Perry evokes the oppressive atmosphere in precise, elegant prose ... This mesmeric quality recalls Sebald's writing, but Gothic-smudged ... It is not good for a first novel, just very good full stop. So pour yourself a cool drink and bask in a dazzling new writing talent. -- Catherine Blyth * Sunday Telegraph *
After Me Comes the Flood is written in deceptively straightforward prose that gradually yields a profound sense of foreboding. A house and the mysteries it contains; a disconcerting, dark reservoir to which everyone's attention returns; and a most unsettling sense of place - all made me think of Fowles' The Magus, Maxwell's The Chateau, and Woolf's To The Lighthouse. This is a book perhaps most deeply about the unknowability of others and of oneself - and one that, while highly disorienting and eerie, is also intensely warm. I loved it. -- Katherine Angel, author of UNMASTERED
Perry's debut successfully creates an air of real eeriness and tension ... the real pleasure here is in her insightful and convincing depiction of family. -- Lesley McDowell * Glasgow Herald *
Impossible to put down * Image Magazine *
Perry is a startlingly good writer. If she doesn't win the Booker prize one day, I'll be amazed. * Sophie Hannah *
Unsettling, thoughtful, eerie...strange and new...It's very clever and very intriguing. * Tim Pears
About Sarah Perry
Sarah Perry was born in Essex in 1979. She has a PhD in creative writing from Royal Holloway, and has been the writer in residence at the Gladstone Library and the UNESCO World City of Literature Writer in Residence in Prague. Her first novel, After Me Comes the Flood, was longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the Folio Prize, and won the East Anglian Book of the Year Award in 2014. She lives in Norwich.
Author photo © Jamie Drew
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