I don’t fee we see enough of Michael to know really. I think he saw her as young, malleable, vulnerable and convenient.
Regarding Francis and his collections, I loved this:
True, we don’t see much of Michael, but still…I think @Caraid is right on the money. Michael needs someone to manipulate and abuse more than he needs someone who fits his station in life (and who might have the resources to escape him). For public purposes, he dresses up Cora to match his standing:
(The above is also an example of the kind of Perry’s writing that I loved.)
Cora goes quickly back to birds and and crickets after Michael dies.
Good observation, which makes me wonder…When Stella dies, will Cora and Will marry? Should they? Do you see them as being able to be happy together over the long term?
I don’t want Cora to end up with Will. I think that they would forever be bound by the ghost of Stella, and I’d like Cora to be more freed up than that. I want her to do some more exploring!
I didn’t really think Cora would end up with Will - but I hope they will stay friends. I think they got involved with each other at a time when they were both vulnerable. I’d actually rather Cora ended up with Luke, but that seems even more unlikely!
Since discussion was a little slow here, I went to see what the Goodreads posters had thought. Boy, it seemed to be a book you loved or hated!
I think one difficulty with the book is that the opening chapter leads you to think it’s going to be a very different book. Somehow between it and the reviews I was actually expecting a bit of a thriller - serial murderer or something of the sort. Instead, while we have many of the trappings of a gothic novel, it’s really much more a novel of ideas - the relationship of faith and science and relationships. Once I stopped trying to read the novel I thought I was reading, and instead paid attention to what was really going on, I ended up loving it.
Hello, I’ve just returned from chaperoning 19 teenagers on an all-day field trip. So nice to be back among grown-ups. 
@mathmom, I loved the book, too, and I tried to go into it without too many pre-conceived notions. Going back now to read some of the blurbs, I found them terribly misleading, e.g., from The Washington Post: “…the most delightful heroine since Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice.” Ummm. No.
I liked your description: “a novel of ideas — the relationship of faith and science and relationships.” The tug-o-war between faith and science is one of the gothic core components, as outlined in the excellent link that @ignatius provided in post #31:
I can think of four different events in The Essex Serpent that illustrate this conflict:
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The serpent itself, which turns out to the boat *Gracie/i
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The ghost ship seen by Will and Cora, which Will later explains away as a Fata Morgana illusion, where “a particular arrangement of cold and warm air creates a refracting lens” (p. 172).
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The mass hysteria of the school girls, which Luke dismisses as “ergotism,” telling Cora, “Don’t fret. There are no mysteries anymore.”
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The “Night Shining,” which the townspeople think is an omen, and Cora explains is an “atmospheric phenomenon” brought on by the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883.
Will abhors superstition and seems to stand by science, and yet, as a religious man, this makes him a walking contradiction, as Cora points out: “But is your faith not all strangeness and mystery—all blood, and brimstone—all seeing nothing in the dark, stumbling, making out dim shapes with your hands?” (p. 123)
I agree with @mathmom - post #44.
On a side note:
Yes, that scene … I find it a bit off-putting also or rather not in keeping in tone with the rest of the narrative. I could feel the suppressed sexuality between Will and Cora during the waltz-that-doesn’t happen. The scene in the forest, let’s just say, the explicitness surprised me.
Another quote from Goodreads:
I have plenty of other books where it fits right in. Dropping the aforementioned waltz scenario into them would seem as strange.
I thought that scene was very powerful because it was an anomaly.
I imagined the fish was this one: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/group/coelacanths/ (Though it’s never been found anywhere near England!)
The laughing epidemic reminded me of this episode: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanganyika_laughter_epidemic
I loved the way, that even though Will and Cora accept that the Fata Morgana is an illusion, they are bothered by the fact they can’t trust their senses.
Will writes:
And Cora replies:
I didn’t like the book at first, but it drew me in, and I found myself thinking about the characters/themes after reading it (like when I am walking my dog) although that may be largely in part because I’m reading along with you guys! It’s a nice change from the times when I start a book positively only to be disappointed later on. The main characters, Cora and Will, may not be so dynamic or likable, but they’re complex and interesting. I just want to complain about Will for a second, lol, - for a pastor, he really didn’t seem to have a great deal of empathy in my mind. He seemed to separate himself from his congregants, becoming frustrated by their fears rather than showing more of an understanding of human nature. I was surprised by his reaction to Joanna’s hypnosis session and his disdain for Luke. Even his first meeting with Cora (the sheep scene) was not in character of a pastor, which I suppose is the point. It’s making me want to go back to the novel to go over his back story - and that’s a sign of success, I think, in a book. The characters have depth.
Lol, my first thought when I read that scene was “TMI!” and my second thought was “Dang, can’t loan this book to my mom now.”
It’s the briefest description, exactly two sentences. An anomaly, as @mathmom said — the only NC-17 moment in an otherwise completely “clean” book. As such, it is jolting. Sarah Perry had to be aware of that. I can only think that she included it to make the reader understand, just for a second, the jolt of Cora and Will’s relationship — the powerful mix of surprise/shame/desire that overwhelms them.
@mathmom, the coelacanth is very cool – but I don’t think it’s big enough! Perry’s description:
I’m going to go with the European sea sturgeon, which can grow as large as 20 feet and 880 lbs (although I have no idea if it could actually end up in the Essex estuary): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_sea_sturgeon
I saw the Fata Morgana several times when we lived in Anchorage. It’s quite amazing. And a little disconcerting.
I did get drawn into the book, but I don’t have a lot to say about it! The image that stays with me the most is Stella in her room, surrounded by her bits of blue.
Maybe, Mary, maybe - re post #50
And totally not relevant, other than the Colchester, Essex location:
Wow! That passage in the book must have resonated with you then. I had no idea such a thing existed. I still don’t fully understand it. I went to Google to look it up, and lo and behold, the phenomenon occurred in my own backyard this past spring: https://weather.com/science/weather-explainers/news/fata-morgana-mirage-chicago
This photo of a Fata Morgana of an ore boat on Lake Superior is extraordinary: http://woodtv.com/2015/05/26/photo-shows-fata-morgana-on-lake-superior/
The sturgeon looks fierce! And wow that catfish! I just remember when the coleacanth was discovered. Amazing that something they thought was a dinosaur was actually still around.
I think Will viewed hypnosis as something akin to the occult, like a ouija board. That, along with a twinge of jealously over Luke, probably resulted in his overreaction. I was more annoyed that he continued to be a baby about the whole thing: When Cora tried to discuss the issue, he sent her back that short, icy letter.
Will chose his profession willingly, but I agree he doesn’t seem to have the sort of patience required for the work. However, in his defense, most of the time we spend with him is during his (early-ish) mid-life crisis, so that may account for his ill temper.
I thought the Cora / Will incident with the sheep was almost a “meet cute.” Maybe I’m a little slow, but I didn’t even realize the man was Will until this exchange:
Wow! @Mary13, that Fata Morgana picture is amazing!
I wondered if he was one of those second sons who ends up in the clergy because it’s the thing to do. He doesn’t have the vocation, or ideal personality, but he’s trying to do a good job.
^ Although his personality fits the “second son” theory, I don’t think that’s it. I went back and looked at an early description of Will:
You know it just occurred to me that he’s a bit like Luke in this respect. Both are devoted to their professions, extremely gifted, and relentless in the pursuit of knowledge – and both lack a good bedside manner.
LOL. Too true!