Having enjoyed Sarah Perry’s previous two novels, The Essex Serpent and Melmoth, I had high hopes for her new one, Enlightenment. However, although I did find a lot to like about it, my feelings were more mixed than with the other two.
Enlightenment begins in 1997 in the small fictional town of Aldleigh in Essex, home to Thomas Hart and Grace Macaulay. Thomas and Grace are decades apart in age but share a special bond, formed when Thomas first sets eyes on Grace as a motherless baby and experiences a wave of love and protectiveness he would never have expected. Now in his fifties, Thomas still feels an affinity for seventeen-year-old Grace who, like himself, is a worshipper at the Strict Baptist chapel in Aldleigh. The first cracks in their relationship appear when each of them falls in love – Thomas with museum worker James Bower, who unfortunately doesn’t seem to return his feelings, and Grace with Nathan, a boy from school.
Meanwhile, Thomas, who works for a local newspaper, has begun writing a column on astronomy and develops an interest – almost an obsession – with a vanished 19th century female astronomer, Maria Vǎduva, whose ghost is said to haunt a local manor. Thomas is so fascinated he devotes his life to trying to uncover Maria’s story, tracking down documents and correspondence in an attempt to find out who Maria was and why she disappeared.
The novel is divided into three parts, with the first part being set in 1997 before jumping forward in time to 2008 and finally 2017. Each time we rejoin Grace and Thomas, we see how their lives have changed in the intervening years and the effects of these changes on their relationship, while the constant threads running through the entire novel are the story of Maria Vǎduva and the mysteries of the night sky.
Sarah Perry writes beautifully but I think this particular novel might have worked better for me if it had been set in a much earlier time period. If the section heading hadn’t told us that the first part of the book took place in 1997, there was very little that would have made me guess I was reading about the 90s. The characters spoke and behaved more like Victorians, which I’m sure was intentional, to reflect the rather old-fashioned Strict Baptist community to which Thomas and Grace belong, but it still gave the novel a bit of an odd feel. It took me a while to connect with either main character, but I did eventually warm to them, finding a lot of sympathy for Thomas, who is gay and in love with a man who is not and isn’t interested, and for Grace, whose relationship with Nathan doesn’t go quite as planned either.
I did love the descriptions of the small Essex town, Bethesda Chapel where the congregation meets, and Lowlands House where Maria’s ghost is thought to roam. Not really knowing much about Sarah Perry, I was interested to learn that she drew on her own personal experience for both the geographical setting (she based the fictional Aldleigh on Chelmsford, where she was born) and Grace’s Strict Baptist upbringing (Perry herself also followed the same religion and grew up without television, pop music or fashionable clothes). And for readers who have read The Essex Serpent, this book overlaps with that one in a clever way which I’m sure you’ll enjoy as much as I did.
Thanks to Jonathan Cape for providing a copy of this book for review via NetGalley.
She Reads Novels 
Definitely on the same page here! I DNF this very early on because I just didn’t believe it was set in the 90s. I think it would have worked better for me if Perry hadn’t made the time period specific.
I liked it enough to not DNF it, but I was definitely a bit disappointed. I agree that it would probably have been better to just not specify the time period.
Good to know that the other two books are good, I have always been tempted by The Essex Serpent.
I think The Essex Serpent was my favourite of the three.
I haven’t read The Essex Serpent yet, but this is the biggest temptation and then I’ll read this one because I’m interested in the Baptists and the 90’s since that was my upbringing too!
I’m sure you’ll find it interesting, Jane, and might be able to identify with Grace more easily than I did.
This one doesn’t sound very appealing to me.
It was okay, but I didn’t think it was anything special. I liked her other books better.
Lots of people whose opinion I trust have been a little disappointed with this one.
I found things to enjoy about it, but was definitely a bit disappointed.
I haven’t read Perry’s other novels, but I enjoyed this one so much that I gave it 4.5*—my only one thus far this year. The contrast between eras is exactly why this book worked for me. I could picture strict upbringings and people not quite right for the time they were born in. The atmosphere was very here and there, kind of otherworldly, which I enjoyed immensely. I will be reading Melmoth and The Essex Serpent at some point and hopefully I’ll like them as much as I did this one.
I’m glad this book got such a high rating from you. I understand what Perry was trying to do with the timeless feel and the characters not quite fitting in, but for some reason it just didn’t work very well for me. I’m sure you’ll enjoy her other books, particularly The Essex Serpent which is set in the same area in an earlier period.
Sarah Perry is one of those authors I still need to get too. I guess I’ll start with The Essex Serpent first.
The Essex Serpent was my favourite of the three I’ve read, so I would probably recommend starting there.
why has no one mentioned the very good After me comes the flood.
I haven’t read that one yet but would definitely like to – thanks.