OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS SERIES SO MUCH I LITERALLY CANNOT EVEN.
We reviewed the tv series as it aired in the US, and PBS was kind enough to send me the first two books in the series, which is what the first season of the TV show was adapted from.
I’m obsessed!
If you didn’t follow the TV series (and I loved everything about it so you should watch it), the series is set in Cornwall, starting in 1783, when Ross Poldark comes home to Cornwall from the Revolutionary War to find his life a complete disaster. His father is dead, his intended is days away from marrying his cousin, his estate is essentially in ruins, and he doesn’t have much in the way of prospects.
The books all touch on class differences, romance, mine procedures and politics, and a whole metric buttload of angst.
It’s a period of massive change happening in Cornwall- the mining industry (as it was) is dying, helped along by unscrupulous business practices, and the people who are the first victims are, as always, the working poor. There’s a lot of tension between the landed gentry that’s running out of money, and the middle class that’s suddenly got a lot of it. The smuggling industry (and don’t kid yourself, it was an industry) is on the cusp of change as the tax officials start getting more serious about shutting down the free trade. For Britain itself, the country has been under Hanover rule for only 70 years, and there are rumblings of Jacobian sentiment still quietly rumbling under the surface. They just ended a war that they lost (badly, with a big ol’ can of whoopass at Yorktown!) and everyone is deeply concerned about the revolution that’s happening in France and how far that violence will spread. The world is changing very fast, and for the chracters in Poldark, they can’t really see the bigger picture.
Happily, Graham can, and he peppers things enough with hints of who knows what (“Hey, you spend a bunch of time in Europe, what’s the feeling there about France and this whole putting the king in prison thing?” “I just go to Lisbon and back, I really don’t spend time in Europe as a whole, but everyone there is super nervous”) (paraphrased). These books are a social history (MY FAVORITE KIND) of the era in Cornish history, but with a healthy helping of soap opera to keep it fun.
This isnt just about one man’s struggle against the indignities of a changing world, and how he adapts or dies (but it is also about that). There’s a whole host of characters that, since we have 12 books (and I’ve only read the first three), get some time to breathe. The story is mostly about Ross and his kitchen maid turned wife, Demelza (D is the best thing that ever happened and Ross does not deserve her), but there’s his former flame Elizabeth, and his cousin/her husband Francis; Verity, Ross’ other cousin and Francis’ sister (and the other actual best); George Warleggan, the grandson of a blacksmith, now banker that’s trying to ruin all of Cornwall in the name of profit; Dwight Enys, a gentleman doctor who does his best for the poor people in Cornwall; Jud and Prudie Paynter, Ross’ servants; Jim Carter, a miner turned farmhand… the list goes on and on and on.
What I like about Ross is that he’s a complicated man. He’s kind of dick sometimes, but he really does care about people that others in his class don’t want to bother themselves with. Demelza is difficult in her own way, but she’s great for Ross because she doesn’t let him get away with his shit, mostly.
Graham is also great about historical detail. The food references alone make me so happy (and I’m tempted to write an unauthorized Demelza’s Receipt Book just for the hell of it). Weaving in how the mines work and what the ore auctions consist of and what historical events happened when and where and how the Post Office Packet Service works and everything just made my nerd heart bleed. How did I not know about these books before? HOW?
I occured to me that I don’t read a lot of books written by dudes, and I kept being surprised that a dude was writing about all these relationships. There are certain things that I think he could have done better when it comes to writing the women, but he does not, as a rule, wander down the path of making Demelza and Elizabeth constantly at each other’s throats and being bitter rivals. (Again, have only read through book three, and there’s an event I know is coming up in a future book that may change that.)
The first three books are available on Kindle Unlimited, but not any of the ones thereafter, which annoys me, but I’m gonna end up forking out for them, anyway, I can just tell.
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Oh! How I love these books! I read the first seven back in the 70’s and my copies are literally in tatters from endless rereading. My teen-aged self just swooned over Ross and I wanted to be Demelza’s best friend. I realize now how much these books and those written by Jean Plaidy helped crystallize my tastes in reading – especially historical fiction.
I glommed these books down when I had my wisdom teeth out and a whole week in bed of nothing to do but read the whole series and watch the tv series over and over.
The books are absolutely magnificent, Graham is a fantastic writer, even if Ross is a dick most of the time, he is a dick you understand. Graham is so good at the bringing these characters to life, there innermost thoughts, the bitterness, the tenderness, the heartbreak, our capacity for forgiveness, so wonderful…
So happy that I bought the first book last week when it had it’s price drop!
Now I desperately want to read these books. Redheadedgirl, There is a book of receipts called The Poldark Cookery Book by Jean M Graham (at one of the libraries in my state) if you want to try looking for it and cooking stuff from i : )
I read all the Poldark books over and over and over.
I just finished the first one a few weeks ago. The advantage of being a modern (ish) book about that time period is Graham can throw in references to things period authors wouldn’t have touched, like finishing one chapter with a gentleman musing that he can’t spare 50 guineas this month because he overspent on his son’s hunting, then opening the next with Demelza’s father accepting 2 guineas to sell her to Ross for a whole year. Graham’s wry sense of humour really shines through in juxtapositions like that.
I love Demelza. LOVE. Actually, my second favorite character after Demelza is also a female character – Caroline Penvenen.
I’ve had these books on my shelf for years and years, but have never gotten around to reading them. Nor have I watched the new Poldark even tho I own it. (Good news, they’ve committed to something like 5 more seasons.) There just never seems to be enough time! I did, however, watch the original when it first aired on PBS and remember large portions of it as if I just watched it this weekend. Loved it. (My heart broke a bit when Angharad Rees–Demelza–died a few years ago. She was so vibrant in that role that I felt I’d lost someone I knew.) I will get around to the books and new series. Eventually.
Yes! Caroline Penvenen!
I think that Winston Graham got much better at writing women as he went on, though Bella was still a bit too fey for my tastes. But Caroline and Harriet and even Rowella are just gorgeous creations, and while Elizabeth annoyed me a bit in the first few books, I did feel by ‘The Black Moon’ that he had drawn a fairly extraordinarily subtle portrait of a woman born into privilege with very little real agency.
After watching the PBS POLDARK series recently I was hooked!! I’ve finished 11 of the 12 and will do that this week. I actually cried when one character died. I’ve not done that is many years!! And to top it off a baby was named Noelle!! My name.