Status
Available
Call number
Series
Collection
Publication
London: Fontana, 1968
Description
Fiction. Literature. Romance. Historical Fiction. HTML: As Seen on Masterpiece? on PBS�: Book 2 of the beloved Poldark series In the enchanting second novel in Winston Graham's beloved Poldark series, Demelza Carne, an impoverished miner's daughter Ross Poldark rescued from a fairground brawl, now happily finds herself his wife. But the events of these turbulent years test their marriage and their love. As Ross launches into a bitter struggle for the right of the mining communities, Demelza's efforts to adapt to the ways of the gentry (and her husband) place her in increasingly odd and embarrassing situations. When tragedy strikes and sows the seeds of an enduring rivalry between Ross and the powerful George Warleggan, will Demelza manage to bridge their differences before they destroy her and her husband's chance at happiness? Against the stunning backdrop of eighteenth century Cornwall, Demelza sweeps readers into one of the greatest love stories of all time..… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member AdonisGuilfoyle
The Poldark novels are always a joy to come back to. All the drama and community of a soap opera, but with believable characters; more romance than anything turned out by Harlequin or Mills and Boon, portraying passion and comfort, heroism and humanity, in equal measure; and a host of lively
Following on from Ross' marriage to Demelza in the first book, Demelza opens with the birth of the Poldarks' first child in 1789. They seem happy together, with Demelza adjusting to her new place in society, and Ross beginning to appreciate his wife's vivacity and open nature. The title character is but one narrative thread, however, weaving into the lives of the gentry and mining communities of west Cornwall. Verity and her lost love are reunited, Ross risks all in a speculative business venture, Jinny Carter faces further hardship, Mark Daniel and his wayward new wife supply the scandal, and tragedy strikes at the heart of Nampara. There are even two shipwrecks thrown in for good measure!
And in the rare moments of calm, Winston Graham's emotive writing fits every mood from wry humour (Jud and Francis) to black misery (the final chapters). Graham also paints a truly evocative, living portrait of the Cornish landscape, so that even land-locked readers like myself can hear the waves crashing in the cove and taste the salt on the air!
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personalities who will quickly and firmly win the following of every reader. The only difficulty is tackling all twelve novels in the series at once - this time, I aim to succeed! Following on from Ross' marriage to Demelza in the first book, Demelza opens with the birth of the Poldarks' first child in 1789. They seem happy together, with Demelza adjusting to her new place in society, and Ross beginning to appreciate his wife's vivacity and open nature. The title character is but one narrative thread, however, weaving into the lives of the gentry and mining communities of west Cornwall. Verity and her lost love are reunited, Ross risks all in a speculative business venture, Jinny Carter faces further hardship, Mark Daniel and his wayward new wife supply the scandal, and tragedy strikes at the heart of Nampara. There are even two shipwrecks thrown in for good measure!
And in the rare moments of calm, Winston Graham's emotive writing fits every mood from wry humour (Jud and Francis) to black misery (the final chapters). Graham also paints a truly evocative, living portrait of the Cornish landscape, so that even land-locked readers like myself can hear the waves crashing in the cove and taste the salt on the air!
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LibraryThing member BDartnall
*SPOILER ALERT*Like his first in the Poldark series, Graham again delivers a fascinating novel of late 18th century life in the Cornwall, England region. This time we get more of Demelza's perspective, her inner life, and her growing maturity and confidence as miner's daughter married into a noble
The story's two bookends: Ross' and Demelza's first child's birth and her unexpected death near the end illustrates the bitter disappointments Ross must suffer in this up and down year: his own cousin Francis' treachery in business matters and false accusations, his grief over the ailing Jim's death, his dismay over Demelza's secret doings to help his cousin Verity marry Blamey; and then his tiny daughter's death - is there anything more poignantly written than the country village's winter funeral scene of little Julia Poldark, the noble and commonfolk alike thronging to the ceremony (a small comfort and surprise to the stunned Ross), the white coffin carried by the young girl pallbearers, all dressed in white, the silence between the impromptu singing of the psalms? *sigh*
And just when we readers cannot stand any more sadness - Graham writes so movingly of the fierce despair and numbing grief of both Demelza and Ross- he provides an amazing shipwreck chapter, not one but two ships breaking up in the dangerous gale and terrible tides near Hendrawna Beach, and the dramatic looting, drownings, and grateful scavangeing of the locals, half starving in the bitter winter of 1790. Here too he provides a fitting demise for one of the story's villians and the recovery of Ross' better nature, his sense of decency and care as he invites the captain and his passengers to their home.
I can't wait to read the next book, and like every good saga, I so want to know more about all these characters and their lives!!
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family. All the characters introduced in book one are continued here with several plot lines expertly interwoven throughout the novel's expanse. So much happens to Demelza, Ross, Verity- Ross' cousin, and the others, chapters shifting between Demelza's domestic life with new baby Julia and her marriage to Ross, Verity's life (the dedicated, faithful spinster sister to Francis, his wife Elizabeth and little Geoffrey, as well as the rest of the household), the emerging economics of copper and tin mining, Ross' newly re-opened mine, and his strenuos efforts to help himself and fellow mining owners to create their own smeltering company, and the social complexities and intrigues of the upstart, avaricious Warleggans, Francis Poldark, and the other families, both great and humble, in the towns and villages of the Poldark home. Graham provides subtle counterpoints to Ross' and Demelza's happy marriage to that of the stolid, uneducated Mark Daniel and his unstable, promiscious young wife, Keren, to Verity's forbidden romance to the sea captain Blamey, to the sad demise of Ross' childhood friend Jim Carter, and long suffering wife Jinnny, as he wastes away in a deathtrap of a regional prison. The story's two bookends: Ross' and Demelza's first child's birth and her unexpected death near the end illustrates the bitter disappointments Ross must suffer in this up and down year: his own cousin Francis' treachery in business matters and false accusations, his grief over the ailing Jim's death, his dismay over Demelza's secret doings to help his cousin Verity marry Blamey; and then his tiny daughter's death - is there anything more poignantly written than the country village's winter funeral scene of little Julia Poldark, the noble and commonfolk alike thronging to the ceremony (a small comfort and surprise to the stunned Ross), the white coffin carried by the young girl pallbearers, all dressed in white, the silence between the impromptu singing of the psalms? *sigh*
And just when we readers cannot stand any more sadness - Graham writes so movingly of the fierce despair and numbing grief of both Demelza and Ross- he provides an amazing shipwreck chapter, not one but two ships breaking up in the dangerous gale and terrible tides near Hendrawna Beach, and the dramatic looting, drownings, and grateful scavangeing of the locals, half starving in the bitter winter of 1790. Here too he provides a fitting demise for one of the story's villians and the recovery of Ross' better nature, his sense of decency and care as he invites the captain and his passengers to their home.
I can't wait to read the next book, and like every good saga, I so want to know more about all these characters and their lives!!
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LibraryThing member SueinCyprus
Sequel to 'Ross Poldark'. Demelza settles into married life and makes friends with her cousin. Readable and fairly enjoyable.
LibraryThing member diana.hauser
I recently read Winston Graham’s POLDARK and DEMELZA. These titles are part of a series written by Mr. Graham about a Cornish family spanning the years 1783-1820.
Ross Poldark returns home to Cornwall after a 2 year stint in the British Army fighting in the ‘colonies’ during the American War
The story includes copper mining, unethical banking and politics, marrying, family strife, smuggling, poaching, class inequalities, the natural beauty of Cornwall, elopement, epidemic, death, treachery, deceit, duels and sea captains.
The books subtlely overpower your life. You are totally engaged in the lives, the struggles, the passions of these characters.
I was first aware of this series in the 1970s. I was reading Daphne du Maurier who used Cornwall as a backdrop to several of her brilliant novels. Winston Graham was mentioned in several book lists as another excellent Cornish author.
Before I read any of Mr. Graham’s novels, his first 4 Poldark novels were adapted as a BBC TV series running from 1975 to 1977. Masterpiece Theatre broadcast the series in the U.S. in 1976 through 1978. I fell immediately in love - with Cornwall, with Ross Poldark (and with Robin Ellis, the actor who portrayed Ross Poldark), with Demelza Carne, Verity and all the characters. (Well, not the Warleggans!)
There is presently a fresh production of the Poldark saga on the BBC and Masterpiece Classic in the U.S. It is just as stunning as the first and I find myself falling in love all over again.
Winston Graham lived in Cornwall for 30+ years and his historical Poldark series presents (quite accurately) the wildly fluctuating economic fortunes of the region. Mr. Graham wrote 12 Poldark novels over a span of 40+ years, the last title published in 2002, a year before his death. He wrote many other novels, plays and short stories.
His novels are a fantastic read and I plan a Poldark reading marathon this winter.
Thank you, Mr. Graham, the BBC and Masterpiece Theatre.
Ross Poldark returns home to Cornwall after a 2 year stint in the British Army fighting in the ‘colonies’ during the American War
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of Independence. He returns home to his father’s death; an estate in a ruined state; his ‘intended’, Elizabeth, engaged to his cousin, Francis; a depressed economy and poverty for the miners, fishermen and farmers of the region; and rumors of his own demise in America.The story includes copper mining, unethical banking and politics, marrying, family strife, smuggling, poaching, class inequalities, the natural beauty of Cornwall, elopement, epidemic, death, treachery, deceit, duels and sea captains.
The books subtlely overpower your life. You are totally engaged in the lives, the struggles, the passions of these characters.
I was first aware of this series in the 1970s. I was reading Daphne du Maurier who used Cornwall as a backdrop to several of her brilliant novels. Winston Graham was mentioned in several book lists as another excellent Cornish author.
Before I read any of Mr. Graham’s novels, his first 4 Poldark novels were adapted as a BBC TV series running from 1975 to 1977. Masterpiece Theatre broadcast the series in the U.S. in 1976 through 1978. I fell immediately in love - with Cornwall, with Ross Poldark (and with Robin Ellis, the actor who portrayed Ross Poldark), with Demelza Carne, Verity and all the characters. (Well, not the Warleggans!)
There is presently a fresh production of the Poldark saga on the BBC and Masterpiece Classic in the U.S. It is just as stunning as the first and I find myself falling in love all over again.
Winston Graham lived in Cornwall for 30+ years and his historical Poldark series presents (quite accurately) the wildly fluctuating economic fortunes of the region. Mr. Graham wrote 12 Poldark novels over a span of 40+ years, the last title published in 2002, a year before his death. He wrote many other novels, plays and short stories.
His novels are a fantastic read and I plan a Poldark reading marathon this winter.
Thank you, Mr. Graham, the BBC and Masterpiece Theatre.
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LibraryThing member MickyFine
This review will contain spoilers for Ross Poldark. Ye be warned!
In her rise from kitchen maid to Ross's wife, Demelza finds herself in a role for which her previous life has left her ill-prepared. Despite this, she and Ross settle into the early days of wedded bliss easily and with the arrival of
Still as engrossing as ever, it is lovely to watch Demelza grow into her role as the lady of manor. While I knew the arc that was coming in this novel, I still found it compulsively readable and was keenly interested in the smaller sub-plots that didn't appear in the television adaptation. I'm eagerly looking forward to continuing to follow Ross and Demelza's journey in the rest of the series.
In her rise from kitchen maid to Ross's wife, Demelza finds herself in a role for which her previous life has left her ill-prepared. Despite this, she and Ross settle into the early days of wedded bliss easily and with the arrival of
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their daughter, Julia, life at Nampara is idyllic. But outside of their small family circle there are larger forces that threaten Ross's mining interests and their domestic peace. In addition, Demelza's interest in Verity's star-crossed relationship with ship captain, Andrew Blamey, may change relations between Ross and Demelza and the two branches of the Poldark family tree forever.Still as engrossing as ever, it is lovely to watch Demelza grow into her role as the lady of manor. While I knew the arc that was coming in this novel, I still found it compulsively readable and was keenly interested in the smaller sub-plots that didn't appear in the television adaptation. I'm eagerly looking forward to continuing to follow Ross and Demelza's journey in the rest of the series.
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LibraryThing member KateSherrod
This 1970s version of the cover of Winston Graham's second Poldark novel, Demelza, keeps cracking me up. I wouldn't have touched it in a million years, with its emphasis on lustiness and defiant love and whatnot. I would though, have been missing out.
As I observed recently, I was sold on the idea
It's a small world, is late 18th Century Cornwall, populated by struggling tin and copper miners, struggling farmers and the odd ridiculous bastion of Georgian gentility, but it feels the effects of the wider world in its own way, as last novel showed us in the hard homecoming of Captain Ross Poldark after Britain's loss of its American colonies, and this one shows us in its tiny echoes of the nascent French Revolution happening just across the water from its wind-and sea-swept shores -- mostly in the form of food riots in the bigger towns, but still, rumblings all the same.
But for our purposes, the biggest stirring is still Ross's decision to marry his kitchen wench Demelza, who has turned out to be the perfect wife for him and, in her own novel here, to be a fascinating character all on her own. Unbelievably happy in her marriage and motherhood, she thinks everybody should be so, and so a lot of the plot of Demelza spins out from her efforts to secure her kind of happiness for Ross's cousin Verity, long separated from her man by family and social disapproval of his past as a wife-beater, violent drunk and all-around less-than-ideal prospect for any daughter. But it's true love! Can't anyone see it but Demelza? No, apparently not, so off she goes on her errand, with surprising and far-reaching results.
For while Demelza is off match-making, Ross is busy trying to do his bit as a social reformer, trying to keep his workers' offspring out of trouble, their livelihood from going belly-up, and to keep himself from decking every ponce in a powdered wig who winks at his wife, cheats him at cards, or outmaneuvers him in business. Oh, and to do all of this mostly in secrecy, which is hard to do in a small world with a busybody wife running around playing cupid and touching off family and social drama.
And again, there are lots of lovely moments, poignant and well crafted, like when the great old Grambler mine, on which the Poldark fortune seems largely to have originally been built, closes down and the gentlemen gather around the huge steam pumps that keep its galleries more or less clear of water to watch their last ups and downs and Ross's cousin Francis chalks the word "Resurgam" ("I shall rise again") on the side of the biggest of them to express the hope that someday what's still down in the Grambler will be economically worth digging for again. I hope it will, I do! But those darn Warleggans, the upstart banking family who are always on the verge of becoming the Poldarks' nemesis but never quite manifest as same, seem destined to keep copper prices low and the mine owners and their employees poor and dependent, those bastards!
Thrown into the mix is a High Romantic sub-plot involving a fancy lass who marries an honest, big-but-dim mining man and regrets it to the ruin of, well, just about everybody in some fashion or another. It's this sub-plot that raises a lot of modern eyebrows, because of course it all ends tragically, but then, oh, what's this? All of these characters we have come to love and sympathize with are loving and sympathizing the guy who killed his wife! To quite an extraordinary degree. Because the fancy lass had it coming, I guess? Um.
So no, I didn't like that bit either, but such has been the way of the world. If there's one thing a reader of novels learns over and over again, it sure do suck to be a girl. But then again, it mostly seems to suck to be a guy, too, though the old saw about being laughed at versus being murdered still comes to mind. Or at least until everybody is up against bigger problems, like rampant deadly disease, economic ruin and shipwrecks with pickings for all to fight over!
ALL THE MELODRAMA.
As I observed recently, I was sold on the idea
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of reading these by the BBC TV adaptation (America's Grandest New TV Saga the little green label on this book cover says), but even so was not quite prepared for how much I would like these books, like Graham's writing, like the characters and their world.It's a small world, is late 18th Century Cornwall, populated by struggling tin and copper miners, struggling farmers and the odd ridiculous bastion of Georgian gentility, but it feels the effects of the wider world in its own way, as last novel showed us in the hard homecoming of Captain Ross Poldark after Britain's loss of its American colonies, and this one shows us in its tiny echoes of the nascent French Revolution happening just across the water from its wind-and sea-swept shores -- mostly in the form of food riots in the bigger towns, but still, rumblings all the same.
But for our purposes, the biggest stirring is still Ross's decision to marry his kitchen wench Demelza, who has turned out to be the perfect wife for him and, in her own novel here, to be a fascinating character all on her own. Unbelievably happy in her marriage and motherhood, she thinks everybody should be so, and so a lot of the plot of Demelza spins out from her efforts to secure her kind of happiness for Ross's cousin Verity, long separated from her man by family and social disapproval of his past as a wife-beater, violent drunk and all-around less-than-ideal prospect for any daughter. But it's true love! Can't anyone see it but Demelza? No, apparently not, so off she goes on her errand, with surprising and far-reaching results.
For while Demelza is off match-making, Ross is busy trying to do his bit as a social reformer, trying to keep his workers' offspring out of trouble, their livelihood from going belly-up, and to keep himself from decking every ponce in a powdered wig who winks at his wife, cheats him at cards, or outmaneuvers him in business. Oh, and to do all of this mostly in secrecy, which is hard to do in a small world with a busybody wife running around playing cupid and touching off family and social drama.
And again, there are lots of lovely moments, poignant and well crafted, like when the great old Grambler mine, on which the Poldark fortune seems largely to have originally been built, closes down and the gentlemen gather around the huge steam pumps that keep its galleries more or less clear of water to watch their last ups and downs and Ross's cousin Francis chalks the word "Resurgam" ("I shall rise again") on the side of the biggest of them to express the hope that someday what's still down in the Grambler will be economically worth digging for again. I hope it will, I do! But those darn Warleggans, the upstart banking family who are always on the verge of becoming the Poldarks' nemesis but never quite manifest as same, seem destined to keep copper prices low and the mine owners and their employees poor and dependent, those bastards!
Thrown into the mix is a High Romantic sub-plot involving a fancy lass who marries an honest, big-but-dim mining man and regrets it to the ruin of, well, just about everybody in some fashion or another. It's this sub-plot that raises a lot of modern eyebrows, because of course it all ends tragically, but then, oh, what's this? All of these characters we have come to love and sympathize with are loving and sympathizing the guy who killed his wife! To quite an extraordinary degree. Because the fancy lass had it coming, I guess? Um.
So no, I didn't like that bit either, but such has been the way of the world. If there's one thing a reader of novels learns over and over again, it sure do suck to be a girl. But then again, it mostly seems to suck to be a guy, too, though the old saw about being laughed at versus being murdered still comes to mind. Or at least until everybody is up against bigger problems, like rampant deadly disease, economic ruin and shipwrecks with pickings for all to fight over!
ALL THE MELODRAMA.
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LibraryThing member fuzzi
In this, the second novel in the Poldark series, the author has created real people and real situations, which draw you in and won't release you until the last page. I find myself caring for these fictional characters, wanting to reach through the cover to touch them.
Set in Cornwall in the late
Set in Cornwall in the late
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1700's, the descriptions of the countryside and dwellings ring true, yet do not bog down the story, but complement it. Highly recommended. Show Less
LibraryThing member Nicole_L_Ochoa
Demelza is one of my most favorite Poldark characters. Her honesty and unwavering love toward Ross is tested in ways I cannot imagine, yet Demelza displays the fortitude of a miner's daughter with the class of the gentry she has become. Another win for Graham, this book easily sent me running for
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book three. Show Less
LibraryThing member Beammey
One of the reasons I wanted to read this series is to see how it differs from the show and to compare and contrast them. This book was not a let down (as if it ever could have been!) The story lines were engaging, the writing was beautiful, and the characters will wrench your heart out. A wonderful
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addition to this series and I can't wait to see what book three has to offer! I would recommend this book. 5 out of 5 stars. Show Less
LibraryThing member arubabookwoman
I continue to enjoy the saga of the Poldarks of Cornwall. Demelza and Ross now have a daughter, Julia. Ross's rebellious nature continues to express itself, and when there is a shipwreck, he helps the starving miners salvage the cargo, which will help feed them through the winter. Enmity continues
The series only gets better. Highly recommended.
4 stars
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to grow between Ross and the Warleggans. The antics of Prudie and Jud continue to provide comic relief, and the story of Verity and Blamey continues. A new character and storyline is introduced with Dwight Enys, a young doctor schooled in the most modern medical science, who seeks to study and treat the ills of the miners.The series only gets better. Highly recommended.
4 stars
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LibraryThing member egrant5329
As with book 1 this one is similar to the tv series, but not exactly. It takes you almost to the end of season 1.
LibraryThing member egrant5329
As with book 1 this one is similar to the tv series, but not exactly. It takes you almost to the end of season 1.
LibraryThing member justagirlwithabook
I finally worked my way through this lovely second in the Poldark series. I initially started it and just sort of dragged along (not the book's fault I don't think - I think I was just unmotivated). Once I dedicated some time to put my full focus on this book, I blew through! I love how it captures
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the beauty of Cornwall, the characters, the time period, and the overall atmosphere. Looking forward to reading the next one! Show Less
LibraryThing member justmum
The second book in the series - not quite sure why it's entitled Demelza as I think it has more of Ross - but it is a continuation of her story and growth with Ross, the developments of the time - mining, removing the ores, banking, shipwrecks and the troubles of the time in the closenet
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communities. Plague, hunger etc. Show Less
LibraryThing member clue
The second book in the Poldark series focuses on Ross' wife, Demelza, during the years of 1788-1790. There's lots of drama related to Ross' mining operations, a murder committed by a good friend, the demise of Ross' cousin Francis and the birth of their first child. Book 3 will move through the
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years of 1790-1791 and I look forward to seeing what happens next. Show Less
LibraryThing member Helenliz
It's amazing how much time you can find to read when travelling on business. One return trip to Germany sees this finished. The concentrated period of reading worked well as it gives time to get swept up in this. It covers a relatively short period of time and Demelza is the pivot upon whi9ch the
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story turns. At times she is headstrong, at times very dedicated and loyal. the social history element makes the background against which this is set terribly bleak. The french revolution is rumbling over the channel, there are riots and the miners in the district are going hungry. The rich are not, of course. Ross & Demelza are an odd couple in some ways, coming across this class divide form different sides and now at home in neither world entirely. It has the tine of a soap opera at times, with much scandal and such goings on. Worthwhile read. Show Less
LibraryThing member Joanne53
The second in the Poldark series by Winston Graham....only 10 more to go...looks like I will be spending the summer in 17th century England with the Poldark family.
LibraryThing member lynelle.clark.5
Demelza's character is one most women can relate to. In book 1, she was a youngster with little knowledge or finesse. When she ends up in Ross Poldark's kitchen as a maid, she was not much to look at even. Yet through the entire storyline, you could witness her growth. First she notices the books
In Book 2, Ross finally sees her as a woman and not as the kitchen maid and her station lifts once more. Here she comes face to face with the upper class, how to act, manners, how to be genteel, savouring your words, be more mature while her impulsive side remained intact.
Through it all, a love story unfolds as it draws you into the life of this fair maiden and her lord.
Life is continuous from where it left off n book 1, and you are plunged into the political and economic situation they had to face.
Each time a new character is introduced, the story grows with a deeper sense of understanding.
The writer's writing always inspiring you to turn the page.
"He set off to walk. It was only a matter of two miles.
A hail of leaves and grass and dirt and small twigs met him as he turned the corner of the house. Behind him the wind was tearing off mouthfuls of sea and flinging them to join the clouds. At another time he would have been upset at the damage to his crops, but now that seemed a small matter. It was not so much a gale as a sudden storm, as if the forces of a gathering anger had been bottled up for a month and must be spent in an hour. The branch of an elm came down across the stream. He stumbled past it, wondering if he could make the brow of the hill.
In the ruined buildings of Wheal Maiden he sat and gasped and groped for breath and rubbed his bruised hand, and the wind blew bits of masonry from the gaunt old granite walls and screamed like a harlot through every slit and hole.
Once through the pine trees, he met the full force of the storm coming in across Grambler Plain, bringing with it a bombardment of rain and dirt and gravel. Here it seemed that all the loose soil was being ploughed up and all the fresh young leaves and all the other small substances of the earth were being blown right away. The clouds were low over his head, brown and racing, all the rain emptied out of them and flying like torn rags before the frown of God.
Down in Fernmore, Dr Choake was beginning his breakfast."
Even though I have watched the TV series, the books add more depth to the story; the characters become alive and you can literally see each one as they develop, get angry, struggle, laugh, or experience deep sorrow. A remarkable series.
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and wondered about the writings, then she discovered the piano in the corner of the living room. Then she found the dresses in a trunk and realizes there was more about a woman. And each time she makes a new discovery, she learns something new—about the world, life and herself.In Book 2, Ross finally sees her as a woman and not as the kitchen maid and her station lifts once more. Here she comes face to face with the upper class, how to act, manners, how to be genteel, savouring your words, be more mature while her impulsive side remained intact.
Through it all, a love story unfolds as it draws you into the life of this fair maiden and her lord.
Life is continuous from where it left off n book 1, and you are plunged into the political and economic situation they had to face.
Each time a new character is introduced, the story grows with a deeper sense of understanding.
The writer's writing always inspiring you to turn the page.
"He set off to walk. It was only a matter of two miles.
A hail of leaves and grass and dirt and small twigs met him as he turned the corner of the house. Behind him the wind was tearing off mouthfuls of sea and flinging them to join the clouds. At another time he would have been upset at the damage to his crops, but now that seemed a small matter. It was not so much a gale as a sudden storm, as if the forces of a gathering anger had been bottled up for a month and must be spent in an hour. The branch of an elm came down across the stream. He stumbled past it, wondering if he could make the brow of the hill.
In the ruined buildings of Wheal Maiden he sat and gasped and groped for breath and rubbed his bruised hand, and the wind blew bits of masonry from the gaunt old granite walls and screamed like a harlot through every slit and hole.
Once through the pine trees, he met the full force of the storm coming in across Grambler Plain, bringing with it a bombardment of rain and dirt and gravel. Here it seemed that all the loose soil was being ploughed up and all the fresh young leaves and all the other small substances of the earth were being blown right away. The clouds were low over his head, brown and racing, all the rain emptied out of them and flying like torn rags before the frown of God.
Down in Fernmore, Dr Choake was beginning his breakfast."
Even though I have watched the TV series, the books add more depth to the story; the characters become alive and you can literally see each one as they develop, get angry, struggle, laugh, or experience deep sorrow. A remarkable series.
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Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1946
Physical description
382 p.; 18 cm