Background
She was born in 1979 in Chelmsford, Essex. Born into a family of devout Christians who were members of a Strict Baptist chapel, Perry grew up with almost no access to contemporary art, culture, and writing.
She was born in 1979 in Chelmsford, Essex. Born into a family of devout Christians who were members of a Strict Baptist chapel, Perry grew up with almost no access to contemporary art, culture, and writing.
She has a Doctor of Philosophy in creative writing from Royal Holloway University where her supervisor was Sir Andrew Motion. Her Doctor of Philosophy thesis was on the Gothic in the writing of Iris Murdoch, and she has subsequently published an article on the Gothic in Aeon magazine.
Her first novel, After Maine Comes the Flood, was published in 2014 by Serpent"s Tail. The first novel she remembers reading was Jane Eyre, and she filled her time with classical music, classic novels and poetry, and church-related activities. She credits her writing style to having only the Bible and classical writings to which to refer.
I wrote about the power of place in my Doctor of Philosophy thesis, particularly the importance of buildings in the Gothic (a genre which I find myself inhabiting without ever having meant to).
Fiction in the Gothic inheritance makes much of the potent importance of the interior, from the castle where Jonathan Harker finds himself holed up to Thornfield, and from the suburban homes in Hilary Mantel’s Beyond Black to the ghastly crypts in The Monk. In January 2013 she became writer in residence at Gladstone"s Library.
Her website states that her current research includes friendship, Tennyson, Essex legends & late 19th century surgical science. Perry continues to work as a legal journalist.
She also writes on the arts, and her articles on both subjects have appeared in a number of publications including The Spectator, The Guardian, and The Oldie.
Perry"s debut novel, After Maine Comes the Flood, was released in 2014 by Serpent"s Tail, receiving high praise from reviewers including those of The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian. John Burnside of The Guardian called it "extraordinary" and "a remarkable debut.".
