Berk Worms 2026 - Award Winning Historical Fiction

Welcome to our Berk Worms 🐛 book club. Each month we all aim to read the same book from a particular genre and then meet to discuss it. We also then talk about other books we are reading. All are welcome! Our book for discussion in January is a Historical Fiction Sunday Times Bestseller and Waterstones Book of the Year by Sarah Perry, called The Essex Serpent written in 2016. It runs at approximately 418 pages and is available in all formats including Kindle and Audio Book.

About the novel for Discussion:

London, 1893. When Cora Seaborne's controlling husband dies, she steps into her new life as a widow with as much relief as sadness. Along with her son Francis - a curious, obsessive boy - she leaves town for Essex, in the hope that fresh air and open space will provide refuge.

On arrival, they hear rumours that the mythical Essex Serpent, once said to roam the marshes claiming lives, has returned to the coastal parish of Aldwinter. Cora, a keen amateur naturalist, is enthralled, convinced that what the locals think is a magical beast may be a yet-undiscovered species. As she sets out on its trail, she is introduced to William Ransome, Aldwinter's vicar, who is also deeply suspicious of the rumours, but thinks they are a distraction from true faith.

As he tries to calm his parishioners, Will and Cora strike up an intense relationship, and although they agree on absolutely nothing, they find themselves at once drawn together and torn apart, affecting each other in ways that surprise them both.

Critical views:

‘The Essex Serpent is a novel to relish: a work of great intelligence and charm, by a hugely talented author’ -- Sarah Waters

‘Had Charles Dickens and Bram Stoker come together to write the great Victorian novel, I wonder if it would have surpassed The Essex Serpent? No way of knowing, but with only her second outing, Sarah Perry establishes herself as one of the finest fiction writers working in Britain today.’ -- John Burnside

‘A big, warm, generous novel that wears its considerable wisdom lightly, The Essex Serpent is an absolute pleasure from start to finish - I truly didn't want it to end.’ -- Melissa Harrison

‘The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry [is] a joyous and beguiling book that wrapped itself around me rather like its eponymous monster.’ -- Cathy Rentzenbrink

Reading ahead with the BERKWORMS
10 February 2026: The Western Wind
10 March 2026: Current Bestseller to be selected in January

Happy reading, 🐛Cazza