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Sarah Perry
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After Me Comes the Flood: From the author of The Essex Serpent Kindle Edition

by Sarah Perry (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
3.2 out of 5 stars 1,042 ratings

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?

Elegant, gently sinister and psychologically complex, After Me Comes the Flood is the haunting debut novel by the author of The Essex Serpent.

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  1. Print length
    241 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Serpent's Tail
  4. Accessibility
    Learn more
  5. Publication date
    26 Jun. 2014
  6. File size
    3.9 MB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Product description

Review

'An extraordinary debut novel, it is hard not to reach for comparisons, if only in a bemused attempt to work out just why this book is so very good...I could not put this book down...[Perry is] a unique new writing talent, already working at a level of subtlety and restraint that many more seasoned novelists lack...What makes this novel truly remarkable is its unique vision, its skillful and sophisticated characterisations, and the creation, without unseemly effects, of an atmosphere that will haunt readers long after the final page. - John Burnside - The Guardian

Sarah Perry's prose is, on the surface, straightforward and calm - but a great sense of depth permeates it, and a sense of frantic foreboding builds through its moments of intense colour...A house and the mysteries it contains; a disconcerting, dark reservoir to which everyone's attention returns, and in general a deeply unsettling sense of place - all made me think of Fowles' The Magus, Maxwell's The Chateau, and Woolf's To The Lighthouse. I loved it. --(Katherine Angel, author of UNMASTERED)

About the Author

Sarah Perry was born in Essex in 1979, and grew up in a deeply religious home. Kept apart from contemporary culture, she spent her childhood immersed in classic literature, Victorian hymns and the King James Bible. She has a PhD in creative writing at Royal Holloway which she completed under the supervision of Andrew Motion. She has been writer in residence at the Gladstone Library and is the winner of a Shiva Naipaul award for travel writing. She lives in Norwich.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00IOLFNY0
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Serpent's Tail
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ 26 Jun. 2014
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ Main - Re-jacket
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3.9 MB
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 241 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1846689468
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Customer reviews:
    3.2 out of 5 stars 1,042 ratings

About the author

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Sarah Perry

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Customer reviews

3.2 out of 5 stars
1,042 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book well worth reading, with beautifully written passages and interesting characters that reveal themselves slowly. Moreover, the novel is atmospheric and mesmerizing, with one customer highlighting its wonderful observations and descriptions of nature. However, the story quality receives mixed reactions, with some finding it mysterious while others describe it as uninteresting. Additionally, the book is complex and difficult to understand.

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27 customers mention ‘Readability’27 positive0 negative

Customers find the book compelling and well worth reading, with one customer noting how it leads the reader inexorably to the climax.

"...OK for passing time on a journey I guess but not a book I'd recommend to anyone, unlike another book I read recently and thoroughly enjoyed." Read more

"...sense of foreboding and the elegant, mesmeric writing, kept me totally absorbed and up until the early hours reading; it also left me thinking..." Read more

"...I found it a strangely compulsive read, cleverly constructed and worthy of 3.5 stars." Read more

"...The language is beautiful - very lyrical and worth reading the book for...." Read more

23 customers mention ‘Writing style’18 positive5 negative

Customers praise the writing style of the book, noting its beautiful passages and poetic language, with one customer describing it as a stunning first novel.

"...– yes. But it did foreshadow the accomplished and brilliantly observant author in her apprenticeship mode, so to speak...." Read more

"...along with an increasing sense of foreboding and the elegant, mesmeric writing, kept me totally absorbed and up until the early hours reading; it..." Read more

"This debut novel from the author of The Essex Serpent displays marvellously lyrical and vivid writing. . But what iss it about...." Read more

"...I gave up my review, it made no sense the spiderish handwriting like an indecipherable map of a foreign country half glimpsed but not quite..." Read more

17 customers mention ‘Character development’13 positive4 negative

Customers appreciate the character development in the book, finding them interesting, with one customer noting how they reveal themselves slowly throughout the story.

"...The characters were interesting – if perhaps overly effortfully portrayed - but the narrator/protagonist John was perhaps too slippery and..." Read more

"...I would like to discuss about this story with its strange, interesting characters and its themes of sanity and religion, but to do so might spoil it..." Read more

"...There is. What we have is a sophisticated character study that relies heavily on atmosphere and a host of characters that we don’t much like...." Read more

"...on, without much sense of plot or purpose but with some rather weird character development and slightly far-fetched events...." Read more

8 customers mention ‘Idea quality’8 positive0 negative

Customers find the book absolutely mesmerizing, with one describing it as an inventive delight.

"...a little too closely to a creative writing course, composed of some excellent ideas, evident depth and craft, but not quite seamlessly connecting..." Read more

"...otherwise I would probably have never read that superb and extraordinary novel. This book "After Me Comes The Flood" is just odd...." Read more

"...A quietly dramatic, claustrophobic story which I found absolutely mesmerising...." Read more

"Good idea but found it predictable and thought the writing style was dreadful." Read more

8 customers mention ‘Thought provoking’6 positive2 negative

Customers find the book thought-provoking, with one customer highlighting its exploration of themes of sanity and religion, while another appreciates its wonderful observations and descriptions of nature.

"...however, I was totally blown away by Sarah Perry’s wonderful observations/descriptions of nature...." Read more

"...story with its strange, interesting characters and its themes of sanity and religion, but to do so might spoil it for those who have yet to read it,..." Read more

"...5* reviews claim it to be but frankly I have found it dreary and self indulgent...." Read more

"...is a complex and atmospheric novel with themes of: obsession, love, faith and a search for identity...." Read more

7 customers mention ‘Atmosphere’7 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the atmosphere of the book, describing it as atmospheric and wonderfully odd.

"...first half, the book delivered this in spades and also delivered a wonderfully odd atmosphere...." Read more

"...the surface, it seems straightforward “; this is a complex and atmospheric novel with themes of: obsession, love, faith and a search for identity...." Read more

"...What we have is a sophisticated character study that relies heavily on atmosphere and a host of characters that we don’t much like...." Read more

"...felt as if I was "wading" through it at times but it was very atmospheric, the characters very strange, the situation mysterious, and I felt..." Read more

43 customers mention ‘Story quality’18 positive25 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the story quality of the book, with some finding it mysterious while others describe it as uninteresting.

"...The ending was quite unsatisfactory I felt and there was one aspect of it in particular I didn't like...." Read more

"...Another thing I liked was that it did seem to be a novel largely from the imagination, rather than the current young authors’ trend of a heavily..." Read more

"...Events seem possibly important but are not connected, the plot rambles and the rain, when it arrives, is a feeble denouement......" Read more

"...A beautifully written, almost dreamlike and rather unsettling story that captures the reader's attention (or this reader, anyhow) from the very..." Read more

10 customers mention ‘Difficulty to understand’3 positive7 negative

Customers find the book complex and difficult to understand.

"...I found it hard to got into and eventually gave up completely." Read more

"Hard going. It didn't work for me. Her next novel The Essex Serpent is flawed but considerably better." Read more

"...the novel as “on the surface, it seems straightforward “; this is a complex and atmospheric novel with themes of: obsession, love, faith and a..." Read more

"...Skimmed the remainder. Which was sad, disappointing and tedious. Six more words required?! I think I have said it all." Read more

Top reviews from United Kingdom

  • J E Bennell
    3.0 out of 5 stars OK ish
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 March 2016
    Verified Purchase
    I was glad to get to the end of this. I stuck with it but didn't particularly enjoy it. I was completely wrong about what the situation at the house was as well. . One of my fellow commuters told me she had read it and not especially enjoyed it either. The ending was quite unsatisfactory I felt and there was one aspect of it in particular I didn't like. OK for passing time on a journey I guess but not a book I'd recommend to anyone, unlike another book I read recently and thoroughly enjoyed.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Cornwallgurl
    4.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing if slightly frustrating first novel
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 November 2019
    Verified Purchase
    I hugely enjoyed “The Essex Serpent”, so when Amazon suggested that I might like to read this, Sarah Perry’s first novel, I thought “why not?” I was interested to see the beginnings of someone who I thought was a hugely talented writer, and prepared to cut it some first novel slack.

    So, did I enjoy it as much as “The Essex Serpent?” – no. Was it a bit rambling and inconclusive? – yes. But it did foreshadow the accomplished and brilliantly observant author in her apprenticeship mode, so to speak. I saw from the book notes that Sarah came from an intensely religious family, and that upbringing was clearly woven into this book. Possibly the first rule of writer’s school – write about that which you know. The only trouble is that religious enthusiasm of any sort is regarded with verging on outright suspicion in 21st Century Britain - and I admit to always wriggling uncomfortably when confronted by a keen evangelist, despite (or because of) having been brought up in a traditional but non-enthusiastic C of E family. Another thing I liked was that it did seem to be a novel largely from the imagination, rather than the current young authors’ trend of a heavily researched historical period with quasi-fictional characters peopling it.

    The characters were interesting – if perhaps overly effortfully portrayed - but the narrator/protagonist John was perhaps too slippery and unpindownable (does such a word exist?) The whole conceit of the accidental visitor who stayed was only sustainable if it was in a previous age minus instant communication. I seem to remember mention of mobile phones within the text a couple of times, but no one ever seemed to make any use of them. I kept thinking about John’s abandoned car and wondering if it had a Police notice and that blue tape on it that abandoned cars in the rural lanes around where I live sport. It was one of those novels – like Donna Tartt’s – which are somehow “out of time”. On reading them, you assume this is taking place some while ago – the 1950’s or 1960’s perhaps. The battered country house, lacking all mod cons, the chatelaine who had acquired it, how? The exclusive, private, fee-paying religious organisation that “cared” for people with psychiatric problems, all seemed to belong to another age. Perhaps this was deliberate, in order to leave us in a dream like state with the menace of the possibly bursting dam a metaphor for the Biblical flood. I really don’t know, and occasionally, during reading the book, didn’t care that much either.

    As in “The Essex Serpent” however, I was totally blown away by Sarah Perry’s wonderful observations/descriptions of nature. There were some quite clever plot twists, but the ending was unsatisfyingly inconclusive. Overall, however, the fact that I keep thinking about aspects of it, means that this was the first novel of an extremely accomplished author. I have Melmoth to read next ….
    4 people found this helpful
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  • SusannahB
    5.0 out of 5 stars An Unusual, Unsettling and Strangely Compelling Story
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 February 2019
    Verified Purchase
    John Cole owns a bookshop in London - which, his brother tells him, fits him just "like a snail's shell". One blisteringly hot summer's day, when the city's inhabitants have begun to leave town in search of places to hide from the sun, John closes up the bookshop and sets off for his brother's house in Norfolk, where he hopes the weather will be cooler. On the way to Norfolk his car overheats on an isolated country road, and when he goes looking for help, he finds himself at the front door of a large, dilapidated house set in untidy grounds. The door suddenly opens and a young woman rushes towards John with her arms outstretched, calling him by his name and telling him she has been waiting for him all day - a situation that understandably confuses John as he doesn't know either the girl or the house. Welcomed into the company of the residents - the elderly Hester, who appears to own the house; Elijah, an elderly pastor who has lost his faith; the attractive, black-haired Eve, a talented pianist in love with Walker, a middle-aged man who has left his wife; the fey, childlike Clare; and Clare's beautiful, unbalanced brother, Alex - John struggles to make sense of the situation he has found himself in, especially as all of them appear to know both John's Christian name and surname and tell him they have been waiting for him for days. Before long John has befriended the mentally fragile Alex (who is convinced that a nearby reservoir is about to split open and drown the local inhabitants) and has fallen in love with the lovely, but prickly Eve. But why are these strange people all living together in this gently decaying house, and why have they all been waiting for John's arrival?

    A beautifully written, almost dreamlike and rather unsettling story that captures the reader's attention (or this reader, anyhow) from the very first page and one that kept me involved from beginning to end. The reader soon becomes aware that there is something unusual about all of the inhabitants of the house John stumbles upon and this, along with an increasing sense of foreboding and the elegant, mesmeric writing, kept me totally absorbed and up until the early hours reading; it also left me thinking about it after I had turned the last page. There is more I would like to discuss about this story with its strange, interesting characters and its themes of sanity and religion, but to do so might spoil it for those who have yet to read it, so I shall just add that, like the author's second novel ('The Essex Serpent'), this is one I would recommend highly. I also have Ms Perry's third novel 'Melmoth' and I'm very much looking forward to reading and reviewing that soon too.

    5 Stars.
    7 people found this helpful
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  • Lynda Edward
    2.0 out of 5 stars REVIEW
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 December 2016
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    This debut novel from the author of The Essex Serpent displays marvellously lyrical and vivid writing. . But what iss it about. Has the unreliable narrator stumbled upon a colony of ghosts, or a settlement of damaged individuals? Has damage attracted damage? Is the water redemtive or destructive? Does the house go up in flames as Manderley?

    Does it matter that there are no apparent answers? In James"s novella the deliciously gothic Turn of the Screw it does not matter because the tale is so skillfully wrought, in this novel I became frustrated with the blend of possibilities.

    Lovely images though and powerfully seductive writing. I found myself sharing the narrator"s reluctance to leave the house
    3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Vincent Wales
    5.0 out of 5 stars Go with the feeling of this book not the plot
    Reviewed in Australia on 3 February 2025
    Verified Purchase
    Not everyone will like this book and the literal minded will hate it. But I loved it. Forget the traditional plot and preconditions and just go with the feeling. Read it in the hot days of summer for maximum effect.
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  • Claire Martin
    1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, muddled and unclear
    Reviewed in France on 17 May 2017
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    This book is in the image of its characters: muddled, unsure of where it is going, how it is getting there and what it's trying to achieve along the way. The author doesn't know what it's trying to say and tries too hard to set up a certain atmosphere. The writing is heavy handed, the characters unpleasant at best and the plot is non existent. I do not recommend this.
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  • Anna Angelidakis
    3.0 out of 5 stars Inaccurate description
    Reviewed in the United States on 15 December 2019
    Verified Purchase
    The book was in worse condition than it was described.
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  • prairieblue
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in Canada on 24 March 2018
    Verified Purchase
    Great book, great service
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  • Leatherboundpounds
    4.0 out of 5 stars I enjoyed this but it was very strange
    Reviewed in the United States on 26 August 2014
    Verified Purchase
    A strange, dreamy novel about knowing other people, and making sense of them. I enjoyed this but it was very strange.

    (I gave this three stars at my blog because my rating is different to Amazon's.)
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