Not all Essex girls are party girls. They can be sages, martyrs, leaders. In her neat and provocative little book, Sarah Perry celebrates their courage and vivacity. -- Hilary Mantel

In each account, as in her fiction, Perry displays her gift for peeling back the layers of our present day to exhume forgotten lives. The arguments are clear, the prose is stiletto sharp... The Essex Girl daringly holds up a mirror to the rest of Britain. - Daily Telegraph

<p>Praise for Sarah Perry:<br> 'A hugely talented author'</p> -- Sarah Waters

A polemic that makes room for both Kim Kardashian and Harriet Martineau - Guardian Biggest Books of Autumn 2020

The always-enthralling Perry returns with a spiky and subversive look at the power of all things Essex - and a feminist defence of "Essex girls". - the i Paper

Perry is a wonderful descriptive writer with a remarkable talent for making the familiar strange ... She bleeds light into darkness and back again - The Times

<b>A defence and celebration of the Essex Girl by the best-selling author of <i>The Essex Serpent</i></b>