He has an ethereally beautiful, irresistibly charming one named Stella right in the parlor. But Will Ransome, the local vicar, does not have a crazy wife locked up in the attic, a la Rochester. Like Jane, Cora meets a man who both attracts and challenges her with his intellect. Want more of our free, weekly newsletters in your inbox? Let’s get started. (Garrett is the second fictional character I've run across recently whose description and personality made me think his author imagined him being played in the movie by Peter Dinklage.) Garrett travels to Essex with his best friend, another doctor named George Spencer, who is 'all that Garrett was not: tall, wealthy, fair, shy, with feelings deeper that his thoughts were swift.' Garrett's temperament, dark looks and short stature have earned him the nickname 'the Imp,' but Cora admires his honesty and passion. (It's a good deed that will definitely not go unpunished.) He's as bold as he is talented, undertaking the surgical repair of a stab wound to a man's heart that other doctors say is impossible - and succeeding. Luke Garrett is a brilliant surgeon with no social graces, too gripped by his fascination with science and innovation to have much regard for most people. Just as devoted to Cora is the doctor who tended the dying Michael.

They're accompanied by a bright young woman named Martha, who serves as nanny and lady's companion, although she's far more devoted to Cora than the average employee.

The term 'autism' was not yet in use, but today Francis would certainly be diagnosed on the spectrum. With her goes her only son, 11-year-old Francis, a withdrawn child who obsessively collects objects and adheres to intricate routines. With Michael safely buried, Cora decamps from London to the coast of Essex, a rural county to the north. That icily beautiful passage, with all its layers of meaning, gives you some sense of how gorgeous and intelligent Perry's writing is - and, coming early in the book, offers a first glimpse of Cora's complex character.

The essex serpent book