‘’Look! It is winter in Prague: night is rising in the mother of cities and over her thousand spires. Look down at the darkness around your feet, in all the lanes and alleys, as if it were a soft black dust; look at the stone apostles on the old Charles Bridge, and at all the blue-eyed jackdaws on the shoulders of St John of Nepomuk! Look! She is coming over the bridge, head bent down to the whitening cobblestones.’’ A manuscript that finds its way into Helen’s hands. Helen. A woman that is i

Click here to watch a video review of this book on my channel, From Beginning to Bookend. A brooding atmosphere shrouded in mystery, enfolded with dark lore and stitched together with secrets. Melmoth speaks to our most shameful transgressions and the longing for redemption; it whispers and taunts and beckons with a crooked finger, drawing its audience on puppet strings to the final page where a haunting conclusion awaits. Look! A jackdaw - blue-eyed and black-winged - sits at the window, pec...

3.5/5 stars Set against the darkly atmospheric décor of the city of Prague is the story of a woman, haunted by guilt and loneliness. Helen Franklin is an English translator, who happens upon a mysterious file, containing letters and diary entries from different periods of history. Not only do all of them share themes of guilt, exile and redemption, they also share the presence of an ominous creature, old as the numbering of days and straight from the depths of occult folklore: Melmoth the Witne

"Do you see her? Has she come?" "What sins do you have to confess?"This exquisitely woven novel is the story of individuals from different eras who were haunted; haunted by Melmoth or by things in their past? It is based on a novel written in 1820 by Charles Maturin.Beginning with Alice Benet in the 17C.,we meet a street beggar called Nameless and his brother Hassan during the Armenian genocide, Josef Hoffman in Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia, and Karel Prazan and Helen Franklin in modern day Prag...

This is Sarah Perry’s first book since the much heralded “The Essex Serpent”. That book followed on from her debut novel “After Me Comes the Flood” and continued her style of writing a modern, water-based take on the English Gothic tradition.This her third book – continues her Gothic tradition as it is an explicit reimagining of the relatively little known Gothic novel – Melmoth the Wanderer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melmoth...) in which the titular character sells his soul for an additiona...

Sarah Perry, writing in the style of 19th century gothic classics, seems like the sort of author who I would love, so I was really excited to win this through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewer program. Unfortunately, like The Essex Serpent, this one fell short for me. There is much needless repetition, (all of those Jackdaws! 🙄) and the attempt to create atmosphere and suspense is so ham handed, all of the intended effect is lost. I think the bottom line here is, if you are in the mood for 19th cent...

‘Melmoth the Witness is watching me !’Melmoth by Sarah Perry is her third book. It is a literary mix of gothic and horror.Helen is a plain, ordinary woman going about her life in Prague when her usually calm friend, Prof Karel, spots her on the way home from work and insist she accompany him to a bar. Here flustered and agitated, he pushes a battered leather folder he has been clutching towards her. He asks Helen in hushed tones ....... have you heard of Melmoth ? Melmoth is know as.....Melmoth

Melmoth the Wanderer meets Winnie the PoohIt is I, Melmoth, known as Melmotka, wanderer of the centuries of man’s sufferings. My child, my Winnie, whom I have longed for, from whom my eyes have never wandered, at last I am come, as you knew I must, I who have watched over you from the hour of your birth until now, that you may be delivered from torment! I, Melmoth!"Would you like some honey?" Said Winnie, known as The Pooh. "I found it, you see, so now I am… eating it. It is nice. You could have...

For some reason, I had thought this would be a horror story and wasn't sure why I'd added it to my TBR list. Still, since it was on there, I figured there was a reason and so I should read it. I discovered that it's not horror, though it does show the horrors that humans heap upon our fellow human beings when we see them as "other". It is written as a gothic story with the character of Melmoth offering the prospect of redemption. Melmoth is a mysterious woman, cloaked in black robes and said to

I enjoyed Perry's earlier book The Essex Serpent very much so maybe I approached Melmoth with too high an expectation and sadly it fell a little short. No criticism of the writing of course which is perfectly beautiful. Just something missing in the overall story itself.Melmoth is a ghostly, nightmarish, folk tale figure who supposedly steals away people who have done wrong. In the course of the book we meet a number of these wrong doers and hear their stories until finally it is the turn of the...

Hmmm how to describe Melmoth? It is a book of stories within stories, that begins in the present day but contains flashbacks to decades and centuries ago. It is a ghost story I suppose, though not the kind you might be used to reading. I had no idea what was happening in the opening pages but I'm glad that I read on.We begin among the cobbled streets of snowy Prague. Helen Franklin is the main character, an unassuming British translator in her 40s, living in an unremarkable life. One evening she...

3.5 accusatory starsMy reviews can be found here: http://yayareadslotsofbooks.wordpress... Monsters are not always the ones hidden in your closet or under your bed. They can be as real as your mind and heart can imagine and in the book Melmoth, we confront a monster of old folklore, a monster that perhaps dwells in each of us, in our conscience and mind, one that follows us wherever we go. Helen Franklin is about to meet a monster of old folklore. She embarks on a journey of a Gothic nature from...

If you have never read a book by Sarah Perry read The Essex Serpent. It is a brilliantly conceived novel of two sterling, intriguing characters set in 1880s England. Each is so carefully delineated that I could tell you everything about them now and I read this 2 years ago.Melmoth is good and I liked it very much, but I felt it was kind of lacking a center. It seemed to want to tell too many stories, although this is a very short book. There are stunning parts, though. This is about the terrible...

I'm kind of fascinated by how much this book doesn't work. Review in another outlet coming soon.

Using the architecture of the Victorian Gothic novel, Perry weaves a tale that keeps one spellbound. Through letters, diaries and narrative, we are privy to encounters with a soul damned to walk the earth for eternity and bear witness to the secret evil we commit and the repercussions of our actions. Look closely! Inquisitive Jackdaws caw their questions, seed pearls fall like tears, feathers hint at movement from this world to the next and singing signals an imminent arrival. Highly literary, t...

Melmoth by Sarah Perry is a 2018 Serpent’s Tale publication. I have not read ‘The Essex Serpent’ so I had no preset expectations for this book. The main draw for me was the advertised Gothic tone. The book delivers on that front, in spades! The folklore is exquisitely utilized in this crackling good tale of horror and suspense. Melmoth is a legendary figure said to have witnessed Christ’s resurrection, but then later denied the truth of what she saw. As such, she is now doomed to wander the eart...

Ugh, argh! I tried, I really tried. Stopped halfway through when I remembered I wasn't going to live forever, unlike poor Melmoth.The author's wonderful prior book, The Essex Serpent, was one of my recent favorites. I was prepared to love this one. Certainly the writing remains quite beautiful; Sarah Perry has talent to burn. And burn it up she does. First complaint, the lesser one, is that the title character in question held very little interest, and wasn't remotely intimidating or fearful or

5 original, stand-out stars to Melmoth! ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Although Melmoth is set in the present, it has a dark, foreboding Gothic feel, not unlike an 18th century work. Set in Prague, we meet Helen Franklin, an English translator with a mysterious past. She carries tremendous guilt with her. Helen’s friend Karel finds a file holding letters from different periods of time. There are common themes of guilt within all these entries. There is a warning, too…Melmoth the Witness travels through time to

"I wonder, when God permitted us to fall, if He knew we'd fall so far."Helen Franklin is an English woman living in Prague. She has made a home for herself and has a small group of friends. One evening her friend, Karel, shows her a letter he discovered in a library. The letter is a confession of sorts and introduces the reader to Melmoth the Witness, a woman who roams the globe in loneliness, looking for those who have done wrong asking them to join her in damnation. She is an interesting figur...

For full review, please visit my blog: https://umutreviews.wordpress.com/201...I have a lot of feelings for this book. It’s one of those that makes you think about the writer, because you’re in awe of what they’re capable of. The sophistication, elegance and somehow the smell of history is seeping through Perry’s pages, and I LOVE it.The story is set in Prague at contemporary times, though it has an 18th Century gothic feel to it. It’s definitely scary at times and often I found myself holding m...