I thought Stella was fascinating. I loved the fact that she feels no jealousy over Will’s relationship with Cora, even as she sees them become closer and closer:
Later, the author writes that Stella has never in her life felt envy, and is unable to imagine what it is like. I found that refreshing – it would have been easy to take a more traditional route and create some kind of nasty love triangle.
There was remarkably little jealousy on anyone’s part. Spencer is sad that his love is unrequited, but I think part of him is okay given the class differences.
There’s an interesting map the author made of Aldwinter here: https://serpentstail.com/blog/cat/news/post/sarah-perry-the-essex-serpent-location-aldwinter/
And here’s the Essex salt marshes (Colchester, Essex, U.K.): http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2201540/Essex-saltmarshes-seen-make-look-like-brain.html
^ Those aerial views of the salt marshes are amazing. The visual really makes it clear why Joanna so fearfully and delicately navigated the saltings with Naomi, on the night they found the broken ship (p. 395-96).
And here’s the serpent - albeit daytime (and low tide)
That is impressive! Even more complicated than the area where Arthur Ransome’s Secret Water was set. (Ransome’s Swallow and Amazon books are probably my favorite set of kids books - in this particular one the kids are dropped off on an island Island a little bit (30 miles) up the coast from where this book is set to map the area.It was shocking to discover when Google Earth came out that it was all there.)
Will’s last name is Ransome. Is that a nod to Swallows and Amazons?
It might be, they are definitely classics in England and get reissued regularly. They came out with nice trade paperbacks when my kids were young - she’s about 10 years older than my oldest.
To question two, I don’t remember that quote, but I think Cora’s main trait is her honesty. Honesty about who she wants to be and what she says. (Hence the letter to Luke.) It’s a generally a good trait, but as we see, it can backfire.
Cora’s character also comes into play in question #7, at least as it pertains to her relationship with Stella:
That’s an odd question. Never for an instant would Cora have quietly let Stella drown! Or anyone else for that matter. And I honestly don’t think Stella and Cora view each other as rivals.
I think that passage merely reinforces what we already know — that these characters, despite their conflicts and differences, love each other and are kind and compassionate. And that includes the good people of Aldwinter — a cheerful congregation: “Let us now with gladsome mind, they sing, willing kindness on their neighbors.” I like the fact that this kindness extends to Will. They see how he has been tempted, but are understanding:
Re Stella, I think that as she gradually approaches death, she becomes more ethereal, more unreal. Her near-death scene reminded me of Tennyson’s poem “The Lady of Shalott.” Compare Stella, blue with cold, with the others on shore looking at her and her mysterious blue notebook to Tennyson’s heroine in the boat: “A pale, pale corpse she floated by…They cross’d themselves, their stars they blest / Knight, minstrel, abbot, squire, and guest. / There lay a parchment on her breast, / That puzzled more than all the rest.”
A picture says a thousand words and is a whole lot shorter than the poem — this Victorian painting was that scene to me: https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3623/5795470111_9720e79e9f_b.jpg
They liked painting Ophelia too: http://qub.ac.uk/schools/SchoolofEnglish/visual-culture/painting/Lady-Shalott-desire.html
And La Dame aux Camellia (who also has consumption): http://www.artnet.com/artists/jos%C3%A9-nin-y-tudo/sarah-bernhardt-la-dame-aux-cam%C3%A9lias-Y7Wt1FrfCiqIOfMPkMGPsw2
I enjoyed the book. I found Cora an interesting character. We mention perhaps Francis is on the autistic spectrum, but how about Cora? In some ways her behavior is similar to Francis’ behavior. What was she like before her marriage to Michael? Being in an abusive relationship obviously shapes her personality, but how much of what she is like was her personality before the abuse?
I consider the specter of the serpent and the salt marsh setting characters in and of themselves.
Author Perry uses many - if not all - of the Gothic motifs listed here: https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/gothic-motifs. The Essex salt marshes take the place of - let’s say, Hill House (Shirley Jackson); the “serpent” causes as much hysteria as the unknown entity occupying said Hill House. The difference: Perry smoothes the edges in the end while Jackson fully embraces horror.
Did you also notice that Luke when he is almost ready to give up contemplates the (winged) coiling serpents that make up the symbol of medicine? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caduceus_as_a_symbol_of_medicine
Since autism tends to run in families, I wonder whether Francis’ quirks came from the Dad or Mom, but I don’t think Cora is autistic. Occasionally thoughtless, but I think she basically understands what makes people tick.
Yes, and there is definitely some Ophelia in Stella, as they both go down to the water to almost dreamily commit suicide. From Hamlet, Acti IV:
Plus, they’re both in love with kind of angsty men. 
I’d say she was already an outcast, someone who didn’t quite fit in: “Seventeen, and she’d lived with her father in a house above the city, her mother long gone (though not before she’d seen to it that her daughter would not be damned to samplers and French).”
Cora is different from her peers: “barefoot, with Latin on her tongue”…”her loose untidy clothes, her unbraided hair." I think she is drawn to Michael because she’s lonely and he shows her attention. She is also naive and has no idea what she is getting herself into:
Compare to Stella at exactly the same age, embarking on a much healthier relationship, both emotionally and physically:
I agree Stella becomes increasingly unreal/ethereal as her sickness takes hold, but I feel there’s an unreal quality to her from the start. We don’t really hear too much about her difficulty in losing two children, her marriage stays blissful, and she seems to accept her medical fate pretty easily - it’s as if she emotionally floats through life.
^ Very true! Re Stella’s medical condition, here’s everything you ever wanted to know about tuberculosis: https://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~rwest/link-suggestion/wpcd_2008-09_augmented/wp/t/Tuberculosis.htm
The relevant part:
The Essex Serpent romanticizes consumption as if the novel were written in the Victorian era and not simply set there. Stella experiences euphoria, has an other-worldly kind of beauty and devotes herself to some very creative writing in her notebook. I think dying from the disease is probably a lot nastier than Sarah Perry lets on.
I wondered this also but more in the context of “why Cora.” What does Michael see in Cora that makes him choose her as partner/victim? Strength to break? Wildness to control/tame? No family that can intervene? Why Cora?
An abuser typically looks for someone weaker than they are, so I don’t think Michael would be attracted to Cora because of her strength. It would be her weaknesses he liked. That could be her age and loneliness as @Mary13 mentioned above.
I still see similarities between Cora and Francis. They are both gatherers. Francis of little things he finds and stashes in his pockets. Cora of artifacts and fossils. They both like facts and don’t have room for fantasy or faith. Francis doesn’t let the people around him get too close. Cora also keeps her friends at a distance. I don’t feel like any of them really know her. She is friends with Martha, but doesn’t share emotionally with her. Cora’s friendship with Luke seems pretty superficial on her side. She is oblivious to Luke’s love for her. Cora did allow herself to fall in love with Will, but why? He was married. Maybe that made him safer. Cora could love him, but would never have to be with him. When Stella is saved and Will once again dedicates himself to her, Cora moves out of the way. She is spending more time alone and no longer spending very much time with her friends. Is she punishing herself? Is this behavior the result of being abused by Michael? Does she feel she isn’t be good enough for anyone? Maybe I am just imagining more here than was intended.
Still it seems an odd pairing as Michael has money and obviously a modicum of prestige in London. Cora seems the opposite of what he needs in a wife - other than her intelligence. Even if he wasn’t sadistic, he had a make-over in store for the kind of society wife he wanted. He seems to decide on Cora immediately - he sees something that makes her the one.
