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The Poldark Saga #6
The Four Swans
The Four Swans is the masterful sixth novel in Winston Graham's hugely popular Poldark series, which has become a television phenomenon starring Aidan Turner.
Cornwall 1795-1797. Although Ross Poldark – now something of a war hero – seems secure in his hard-won prosperity, a new dilemma faces him in the sudden infatuation of a young naval officer for his wife Demelza.
All four women – the four swans – whose lives touch Ross’s, face a crisis in these years. For his wife Demelza, his old love Elizabeth, his friend’s new wife Caroline and for the unhappy Morwenna Chynoweth these are times of stress and conflict.
The Four Swans is followed by the seventh book in the Poldark series, The Angry Tide.
'From the incomparable Winston Graham . . . who has everything that anyone else has, then a whole lot more' Guardian
595 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
872 people are currently reading
5934 people want to read
About the author
Winston Graham
215 books1,153 followersWinston Graham was an English novelist best known for the Poldark series of historical novels set in Cornwall, though he also wrote contemporary thrillers, period novels, short stories, non-fiction, and plays. Born in Victoria Park, Manchester, he moved to Perranporth, Cornwall in 1925 and lived there for 34 years. Graham published his first novel, The House with the Stained Glass Windows, in 1934 and married Jean Williamson in 1939, who inspired the character Demelza in Poldark. During World War II, he joined the Auxiliary Coastguard Service. Graham became a member of the Society of Authors in 1945, serving as chairman from 1967 to 1969, and was a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, receiving an OBE in 1983. His Poldark series began with Ross Poldark in 1945 and concluded with Bella Poldark in 2002. He wrote 30 additional novels, short stories, and non-fiction works, including the acclaimed thriller Marnie, adapted by Alfred Hitchcock in 1964. Several other novels, including The Walking Stick and Fortune Is a Woman, were adapted for film. Graham also wrote plays, some adapted from his novels. His works have been translated into 31 languages, and his autobiography, Memoirs of a Private Man, was published posthumously in 2003.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 584 reviews
June 13, 2019
Ross Poldark watches four beautiful swans on a pond and likens them to four women in his life whose connection to himself, through family links, have influenced the course of his life so far. In this sixth novel of the Poldark series, we experience those connections and links in vivid detail – and the ventures and adventures, some purposeful and some by happenstance have far-ranging consequences – and far-reaching further links and connections.
Ross and Demelza themselves are tested, and the strength of their marriage comes under some stress. Demelza’s brothers experience tests of their own – ones that both Demelza and Ross are drawn into for various reasons. And always, like a shadowy volcanic mountain preparing itself for eruption, the Warleggan family – especially George – loom over all of their lives and threaten their happiness and well-being.
Once again, Winston Graham has advanced this family saga into areas that brought me into the vivid sensation of living in Cornwall, England in the late 1700’s. The politics, the economy, the poverty, and the ever-present class system that embraces few while excluding many.
Ross and Demelza Poldark are part of a very few people who embrace both sides of the class divide. Their closest friends, Dwight and Caroline Enys, are also experienced at walking that tightrope, but for the vast majority, the great divide is a barrier that ensures the wealthy enjoy their lifestyle free of any conscience toward those less fortunate.
Over the years I have read a few excellent family sagas that span multiple generations. This one is different in that it focuses on one specific generation with immediacy and intimacy. Roughly 13 years have passed between the first book and this sixth one, and I am so invested in the lives of Ross and Demelza Poldark and their friends (and enemies, I suppose) that I eagerly look forward to the next instalment of this amazing saga.
Ross and Demelza themselves are tested, and the strength of their marriage comes under some stress. Demelza’s brothers experience tests of their own – ones that both Demelza and Ross are drawn into for various reasons. And always, like a shadowy volcanic mountain preparing itself for eruption, the Warleggan family – especially George – loom over all of their lives and threaten their happiness and well-being.
Once again, Winston Graham has advanced this family saga into areas that brought me into the vivid sensation of living in Cornwall, England in the late 1700’s. The politics, the economy, the poverty, and the ever-present class system that embraces few while excluding many.
Ross and Demelza Poldark are part of a very few people who embrace both sides of the class divide. Their closest friends, Dwight and Caroline Enys, are also experienced at walking that tightrope, but for the vast majority, the great divide is a barrier that ensures the wealthy enjoy their lifestyle free of any conscience toward those less fortunate.
Over the years I have read a few excellent family sagas that span multiple generations. This one is different in that it focuses on one specific generation with immediacy and intimacy. Roughly 13 years have passed between the first book and this sixth one, and I am so invested in the lives of Ross and Demelza Poldark and their friends (and enemies, I suppose) that I eagerly look forward to the next instalment of this amazing saga.
January 20, 2018
"… even where there is love there is misunderstanding. We try to speak to each other like through a glass, all of us."
Either I'm getting increasingly sentimental with each passing year, or Winston Graham had special powers that shine through in his writing! Perhaps a little of both! I felt so emotional reading this book, and I might have to say this is my favorite in the series thus far. This is the sixth book in the spectacular Poldark series set in late 1700s Cornwall. Each installment has felt so fresh and alive, but you absolutely have to read these in order. I swear the characters will grow on you; some of them occupy a little piece of my heart as if they were real persons in my life. Others I would cringe to cross paths with, if ever we did happen to come face to face! I really had a difficult time letting go of this particular episode in the lives of these very human and complex souls.
While Napoleon’s name is becoming more than just a whisper on the continent, the folks of Cornwall are becoming more and more on the alert and have made steps to ensure the security of their own independence. I like that Winston Graham does not create just a little insular world, but rather always keeps in the background the political and historical events of the times. It helps to keep things in perspective knowing that this was in fact a time of turmoil in Europe. Likewise, the characters have their own set of problems, both small and large. I thought Graham did an excellent job at examining the institution of marriage in The Four Swans. Trust, passion, infidelity, communication, the role of religion, and loyalty are all elements that are explored and tested. It forced me to stop and mull over my own relationship – what makes it last and how can I preserve this sacred bond? Many familiar faces appear once again in this book, and we have the pleasure of meeting some new ones as well. A few of the lesser characters are more fully developed, and I especially enjoyed getting to learn more about Sam Carne and Hugh Armitage. Of course, I always delight in Ross, Demelza, Caroline, Dwight and Drake. Elizabeth has shown some additional strength, in particular a degree of shrewdness I had not previously expected from her. George Warleggan continues on his rampage with his goal of always trying to one-up Ross; and my revulsion towards Ossie Whitworth is intensified even further.
I think I went through the whole gamut of emotions in this book! I felt just a bit spent after reading, and am convinced that nothing else will manage to inspire such feeling in me – at least not until I pick up book 7! I adore this series and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone that appreciates well-written and highly compelling historical fiction with brilliant character development. You might just fall under Mr. Graham’s spell as well!
"Tenderness is not like money. But neither is trust... Neither is loyalty. You can give those away and they are gone forever... Though only a part of love, they are a vital part, gathered, stored, built up over the years, like something growing round love, protecting it, warming it, adding another strength to it and another savour. Give those away and they are gone forever…"
Either I'm getting increasingly sentimental with each passing year, or Winston Graham had special powers that shine through in his writing! Perhaps a little of both! I felt so emotional reading this book, and I might have to say this is my favorite in the series thus far. This is the sixth book in the spectacular Poldark series set in late 1700s Cornwall. Each installment has felt so fresh and alive, but you absolutely have to read these in order. I swear the characters will grow on you; some of them occupy a little piece of my heart as if they were real persons in my life. Others I would cringe to cross paths with, if ever we did happen to come face to face! I really had a difficult time letting go of this particular episode in the lives of these very human and complex souls.
While Napoleon’s name is becoming more than just a whisper on the continent, the folks of Cornwall are becoming more and more on the alert and have made steps to ensure the security of their own independence. I like that Winston Graham does not create just a little insular world, but rather always keeps in the background the political and historical events of the times. It helps to keep things in perspective knowing that this was in fact a time of turmoil in Europe. Likewise, the characters have their own set of problems, both small and large. I thought Graham did an excellent job at examining the institution of marriage in The Four Swans. Trust, passion, infidelity, communication, the role of religion, and loyalty are all elements that are explored and tested. It forced me to stop and mull over my own relationship – what makes it last and how can I preserve this sacred bond? Many familiar faces appear once again in this book, and we have the pleasure of meeting some new ones as well. A few of the lesser characters are more fully developed, and I especially enjoyed getting to learn more about Sam Carne and Hugh Armitage. Of course, I always delight in Ross, Demelza, Caroline, Dwight and Drake. Elizabeth has shown some additional strength, in particular a degree of shrewdness I had not previously expected from her. George Warleggan continues on his rampage with his goal of always trying to one-up Ross; and my revulsion towards Ossie Whitworth is intensified even further.
I think I went through the whole gamut of emotions in this book! I felt just a bit spent after reading, and am convinced that nothing else will manage to inspire such feeling in me – at least not until I pick up book 7! I adore this series and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone that appreciates well-written and highly compelling historical fiction with brilliant character development. You might just fall under Mr. Graham’s spell as well!
"Tenderness is not like money. But neither is trust... Neither is loyalty. You can give those away and they are gone forever... Though only a part of love, they are a vital part, gathered, stored, built up over the years, like something growing round love, protecting it, warming it, adding another strength to it and another savour. Give those away and they are gone forever…"
January 5, 2019
Still loving them!
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
February 23, 2017
The Poldark saga continues with this book focusing on the four swans: Demelza, Caroline, Elizabeth and Morwenna. Demelza's 2 younger brothers join the cast and prove to be promising young men despite their challenging upbringing with dear ol' dad.
Plenty of romantic tragedy in this book which made for some dark reading at times. I had to put the book aside for awhile and read something a little lighter before I could finish Four Swans.
If you're looking for a dramatic and tragic romance this is the book for you.
Can't wait until karma visits the dastardly Warleggans and I'm patiently waiting for that point to arrive, I don't care how many books it takes.
Plenty of romantic tragedy in this book which made for some dark reading at times. I had to put the book aside for awhile and read something a little lighter before I could finish Four Swans.
If you're looking for a dramatic and tragic romance this is the book for you.
Can't wait until karma visits the dastardly Warleggans and I'm patiently waiting for that point to arrive, I don't care how many books it takes.
March 13, 2016
5 STARS
I can't remember the last time I was so drawn into a story. This author has truly captured my heart and soul with this incredible and often heart wrenching story. Whoever said men can't be truly romantic.... for I am beginning to believe that they are so much more so than women. What can I say? I am completely captivated by the lives of these characters.
This author and his fabulous books are nothing less than..
Near the bank were four swans, almost stationary, moving so slowly that they appeared, only to be drifting with the tide. Each one mirrored, duplicated in the still water. It seemed sometimes that they could see their own reflections and were admiring themselves. Then one or another would break her reflection by dipping a delicate beak.
Graceful things.
White things.
Like women.
Unpredictable. Gentle. Fierce. Faithful or unfaithful. Loyal or traitorous. God who knew?
I can't remember the last time I was so drawn into a story. This author has truly captured my heart and soul with this incredible and often heart wrenching story. Whoever said men can't be truly romantic.... for I am beginning to believe that they are so much more so than women. What can I say? I am completely captivated by the lives of these characters.
This author and his fabulous books are nothing less than..
March 14, 2017
"Oh, Ross, will you not hold me?"
"Yes, he said, doing it.
"Please hold me and never let me go."
"Nor shall I, if you give me the chance."
"Not till we die. Ross, I could not live without you."
What can I say that I have not said already?
This book. This series. These characters.
Such a brilliant author, Winston Graham. I would have liked to have known him.
Previous review:
The swans were moving away now, pale, dignified, enigmatical, out of his life forever. Double mirrored in the soundless pool, they might have been representing some reverse side of their beings, like humans offering one image to the world and retaining another for private introspection.
Honestly, I do not have words to describe what I feel at this moment. Oh, my heart- it aches and rejoices equally. I am deeply touched to say the least.
This author is brilliant indeed- drawing out a myriad of emotions, the reader but putty in his hands. To think that there are six more books in this series of which to read is both a thrill and a disappointment. I greatly look forward for what is to come but yet dread the time in which there is no more. Gah!!
April 11, 2023
My intention was to read this entire series last year, but you know how that goes in the reading life. The best of intentions you know where that leads so let’s not go there!
These reviews are getting harder and harder to write because of revealing too much of the plot. On Book 6 of the 12 book series, the characters are already well established and as a reader you are either a fan of some or you loathe others. That’s just the way Winston Graham would like his readers to feel about them - caught up in the stories of the beloved Ross and Demelza still creating surprises and shocking events to have to divest 14 years after they wed. He gets so much further into the stories of Demelza’s brothers, Sam and Drake as well as the struggles that they deal with. Morwenna, Elizabeth’s cousin, has the most excruciating experiences to endure while Elizabeth comes into her own. Caroline and Dwight Ennys have some surprising news to share. All of these characters’ lives will be fleshed out as the books continue. It is just so enveloping to sit down to visit the Cornish coast of England and get spun up into the soap opera that is their lives. This is just the type of book that will have you laughing, crying, and screaming at several characters. At other times, you are sympathetic to what they are going through.
’Make no mistake. We none of us come to port without risk of shipwreck.’
Near the bank four swans, almost stationary, moving so slowly that they appeared only to be drifting with the tide….Graceful things. Faithful or unfaithful. Loyal or traitorous.
Ross sees these swans representing the four women who have touched his life in some way and they find themselves enduring their own separate heartaches and stresses. These 4 women, Demelza, Elizabeth, Caroline and Morwenna will captivate your heart and cause you to fret at times. You’ll question some of their decisions and champion others. At the same time, you will get the feel for the political atmosphere of Cornwall and of how the French Revolution will affect their lives.
I missed cousin Verity in this installment as Captain Blamey is not a central story line. But I will be back for the next one hopefully very soon!
These reviews are getting harder and harder to write because of revealing too much of the plot. On Book 6 of the 12 book series, the characters are already well established and as a reader you are either a fan of some or you loathe others. That’s just the way Winston Graham would like his readers to feel about them - caught up in the stories of the beloved Ross and Demelza still creating surprises and shocking events to have to divest 14 years after they wed. He gets so much further into the stories of Demelza’s brothers, Sam and Drake as well as the struggles that they deal with. Morwenna, Elizabeth’s cousin, has the most excruciating experiences to endure while Elizabeth comes into her own. Caroline and Dwight Ennys have some surprising news to share. All of these characters’ lives will be fleshed out as the books continue. It is just so enveloping to sit down to visit the Cornish coast of England and get spun up into the soap opera that is their lives. This is just the type of book that will have you laughing, crying, and screaming at several characters. At other times, you are sympathetic to what they are going through.
’Make no mistake. We none of us come to port without risk of shipwreck.’
Near the bank four swans, almost stationary, moving so slowly that they appeared only to be drifting with the tide….Graceful things. Faithful or unfaithful. Loyal or traitorous.
Ross sees these swans representing the four women who have touched his life in some way and they find themselves enduring their own separate heartaches and stresses. These 4 women, Demelza, Elizabeth, Caroline and Morwenna will captivate your heart and cause you to fret at times. You’ll question some of their decisions and champion others. At the same time, you will get the feel for the political atmosphere of Cornwall and of how the French Revolution will affect their lives.
I missed cousin Verity in this installment as Captain Blamey is not a central story line. But I will be back for the next one hopefully very soon!
June 20, 2025
Near the bank were four swans, almost stationary, moving so slowly that they appeared to only be drifting with the tide.
& Graham is back to his magnificent best with this installment in the Poldark Saga. The above quote makes it clear that the four swans (Demelza, Elizabeth, Catherine & Morwenna) may be moving slowly, gracefully, but under the surface they are paddling furious & three of the swans do take very decisive action at this point in their lives. I don't agree with all of their choices, but Graham is one of the best male novelists at conveying the motivations & thoughts of his female characters. If I was going to fault this book at all it would be because one of the secondary characters (Morwenna's husband Ossie) is too villainous. But we are taken into his mind - not a place I enjoyed visiting, but we understand his actions. & this book focused less on the female characters wardrobe (I confess, I missed this!)
This is the final Poldark book I own, but a library in our area carries all of them. A couple of reviewers I've read have stated that
is the last outstanding installment, but I will carry on till at least the following book
to make up my own mind.Feel free to give your opinions below though!
https://wordpress.com/view/carolshess...
March 4, 2017
In general, I am very reluctant to take on a series read. What often happens is that you begin the series with great expectations and as it progresses, the writer gets lazy, runs out of storyline, or loses touch with his characters...like a tv series that is on its last leg and is just inventing a reason to continue. THIS IS NOT THE CASE with Winston Graham. He is such a skillful and thoughtful writer that he never gives us an inconsistency in the character that cannot be explained or that is foreign to what he has already told us about them; he finds new plot twists that are in total keeping with the realities of life and seem brilliantly surprising; and he adds new characters when they make sense and has them interact with the old characters without overshadowing them. Everything is so seamless that you cannot believe he did not envision this story in its entirety from the first written line.
I guess it is obvious that I am a fan. The Four Swans is one of the best books in this series, but then I say that about each one as I close it, because this series is always building momentum. It cannot be read in anything other than chronological order and it is twelve books total. So, it is an investment, but oh my does it pay dividends.
Ross and Demelza Poldark are so real to me that I feel I know them intimately, but along with my attachment to the Poldarks themselves, Graham has given us the perfect foil in George Warleggan, a second villain who, for me, defines evil and makes me appreciate that George isn’t quite the bottom of the sludge of life barrel. Elizabeth, whose beauty might be stunning but whose soul needs a little work, epitomizes the woman who has it all and then finds that it is nothing. Dr. Dwight Enys, with whom I am hopelessly enamored, the good man but not the perfect one, and his spirited and witty Caroline; Morweena, Drake and Geoffrey Charles, Sam and Emma, and Hugh Armitage, who managed to break my heart and show me that a sad heart is large enough to include more than one love.
I must say that the joy of reading these books has been increased tenfold by the sharing of it with the wonderful ladies of the RFP group. I sat up way past my bedtime to finish this novel, because I knew that putting it down would ensure that I got no sleep in any case. So, I am on to the next volume and hopes that Mr. Graham can sustain this wonderful ride for me until we reach the farthest shore.
I guess it is obvious that I am a fan. The Four Swans is one of the best books in this series, but then I say that about each one as I close it, because this series is always building momentum. It cannot be read in anything other than chronological order and it is twelve books total. So, it is an investment, but oh my does it pay dividends.
Ross and Demelza Poldark are so real to me that I feel I know them intimately, but along with my attachment to the Poldarks themselves, Graham has given us the perfect foil in George Warleggan, a second villain who, for me, defines evil and makes me appreciate that George isn’t quite the bottom of the sludge of life barrel. Elizabeth, whose beauty might be stunning but whose soul needs a little work, epitomizes the woman who has it all and then finds that it is nothing. Dr. Dwight Enys, with whom I am hopelessly enamored, the good man but not the perfect one, and his spirited and witty Caroline; Morweena, Drake and Geoffrey Charles, Sam and Emma, and Hugh Armitage, who managed to break my heart and show me that a sad heart is large enough to include more than one love.
I must say that the joy of reading these books has been increased tenfold by the sharing of it with the wonderful ladies of the RFP group. I sat up way past my bedtime to finish this novel, because I knew that putting it down would ensure that I got no sleep in any case. So, I am on to the next volume and hopes that Mr. Graham can sustain this wonderful ride for me until we reach the farthest shore.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 9, 2019
I'm so glad I decided to finish this one. At the half way point I set it aside. There is a very despicable man in this story and it made me not want to finish, he made me so angry! I couldn't stop thinking about all of the other characters though, and I had to find out what happened to them. This book made me cry, not many books do that. I think I have grown attached to these characters.
"Near the bank were four swans, almost stationary, moving so slowly that they appeared only to be drifting with the tide. Each one was mirrored, duplicated in the still water. It seemed sometimes that they could see their own reflections and were admiring themselves. Then one or another would break her reflection by dipping a delicate beak. Graceful things. White things. Like women. Unpredictable. Gentle. Fierce. Faithful or unfaithful. Loyal or traitorous. God, who knew?"
I highly recommend this series!
"Near the bank were four swans, almost stationary, moving so slowly that they appeared only to be drifting with the tide. Each one was mirrored, duplicated in the still water. It seemed sometimes that they could see their own reflections and were admiring themselves. Then one or another would break her reflection by dipping a delicate beak. Graceful things. White things. Like women. Unpredictable. Gentle. Fierce. Faithful or unfaithful. Loyal or traitorous. God, who knew?"
I highly recommend this series!
July 30, 2018
I’m probably repeating myself, but no one writes complex female characters quite like Winston Graham.
Graham writes such characters that live deep in their own convictions, while being open to change. The women, especially, are those who not only move forward in life in an attempt to make their own choices, but they influence others to act accordingly, be it by kindness, thought or action.
In this book, Ross thinks of the four swans in his life:
Caroline Penvenen:
A woman who marries below her station in life for love. She becomes Caroline Enis by her marriage to Dwight Enis, the town doctor and overall a good, decent man. Dwight suffers from his days in the war and in the French prison and we see her silent strength as she acts selflessly. She has grown throughout the series, her selfish ways almost all forgotten.
Elizabeth Warleggan:
Elizabeth continues to attempt to dampen the jealousy her husband, George, has for Ross. She is not as manipulative as George, but that streak is definitely inside her, especially when it comes to the wellbeing of her children. I am always unsure as to who would have made a better match for Ross, and I do think that Elizabeth would have been perfect for him had he not run off to war. People change, and Elizabeth, too, has changed quite a bit since the beginning.
Morwenna Whitworth:
Poor Morwenna is in the worst position imaginable. I have never hated anyone more than I hate the man she was forced to marry. He really is an evil character, one who I envision being killed more or less all the time. However, taking such a gentle and innocent woman and marrying her off to a man who is cruel only gave her a quiet strength. I sincerely hope to read about his death soon. Followed by which, reading about her marriage to Drake Carne. She deserves kindness in her life.
Demelza Poldark:
Marriage is not easy and we see this in the interactions between Ross and Demelza. After Ross’ infidelity and the death of their child, their relationship has been rocky at best. As she is being ignored by her husband, her attention is drawn to a young poet. Hugh Armitage is smitten by Demelza and she finds herself flattered and more by his attentions.
The women in Ross’ life might have been the center of most of the story, but I wish we had seen more from their point of view. When it comes to George, his jealousy of Ross keeps his character interesting and it was nice to read that Ross is no longer financially spent.
I look forward to the next book in this series. I am invested in this story, and in the characters. I hope there can be a few happy endings soon.
Graham writes such characters that live deep in their own convictions, while being open to change. The women, especially, are those who not only move forward in life in an attempt to make their own choices, but they influence others to act accordingly, be it by kindness, thought or action.
In this book, Ross thinks of the four swans in his life:
Caroline Penvenen:
A woman who marries below her station in life for love. She becomes Caroline Enis by her marriage to Dwight Enis, the town doctor and overall a good, decent man. Dwight suffers from his days in the war and in the French prison and we see her silent strength as she acts selflessly. She has grown throughout the series, her selfish ways almost all forgotten.
Elizabeth Warleggan:
Elizabeth continues to attempt to dampen the jealousy her husband, George, has for Ross. She is not as manipulative as George, but that streak is definitely inside her, especially when it comes to the wellbeing of her children. I am always unsure as to who would have made a better match for Ross, and I do think that Elizabeth would have been perfect for him had he not run off to war. People change, and Elizabeth, too, has changed quite a bit since the beginning.
Morwenna Whitworth:
Poor Morwenna is in the worst position imaginable. I have never hated anyone more than I hate the man she was forced to marry. He really is an evil character, one who I envision being killed more or less all the time. However, taking such a gentle and innocent woman and marrying her off to a man who is cruel only gave her a quiet strength. I sincerely hope to read about his death soon. Followed by which, reading about her marriage to Drake Carne. She deserves kindness in her life.
Demelza Poldark:
Marriage is not easy and we see this in the interactions between Ross and Demelza. After Ross’ infidelity and the death of their child, their relationship has been rocky at best. As she is being ignored by her husband, her attention is drawn to a young poet. Hugh Armitage is smitten by Demelza and she finds herself flattered and more by his attentions.
The women in Ross’ life might have been the center of most of the story, but I wish we had seen more from their point of view. When it comes to George, his jealousy of Ross keeps his character interesting and it was nice to read that Ross is no longer financially spent.
I look forward to the next book in this series. I am invested in this story, and in the characters. I hope there can be a few happy endings soon.
June 19, 2018
"Swans. Graceful things. White things. Like women. Unpredictable. Gentle. Fierce. Faithful or unfaithful. Loyal or traitorous. God, who knew?"
Number six in this series certainly did not disappoint. In the late 18th century, men ruled in business and politics, but strong women controlled those men. With love, manipulation, subtlety, sometimes outright deception, smart women figured out how to get what they wanted. Winston Graham's women in this series are indeed strong and powerful in their own way. Demelza and Catherine certainly, from the beginning. Elizabeth, whose weakness was an inability to make up her mind and her propensity to grasp at the easiest solution, is still the catalyst for a lot of the action and rivalries in these novels. And now we have Morwenna and Emma coming into the story. Will either of them get what they desire? My bet is on yes, but I will have to wait til the next book to find out.
Number six in this series certainly did not disappoint. In the late 18th century, men ruled in business and politics, but strong women controlled those men. With love, manipulation, subtlety, sometimes outright deception, smart women figured out how to get what they wanted. Winston Graham's women in this series are indeed strong and powerful in their own way. Demelza and Catherine certainly, from the beginning. Elizabeth, whose weakness was an inability to make up her mind and her propensity to grasp at the easiest solution, is still the catalyst for a lot of the action and rivalries in these novels. And now we have Morwenna and Emma coming into the story. Will either of them get what they desire? My bet is on yes, but I will have to wait til the next book to find out.
January 2, 2016
*SPOILER ALERT!*
Whatever else you might think of Winston Graham's writing, his characters are sterling. They screw up, redeem themselves, then screw up again. Real people, fascinating in their human-ness.
This time it's Demelza's turn to be a fool and throw all her happiness away...almost. That her marriage survives (at least for now) is partly due, I think, to the death of the young man infatuated with her. This book ended very differently than the others, which although they related horrible events and problems, usually ended on a hopeful note. Here, Ross is depressed, Demelza is destroyed, Demelza's brother Sam is separating from the woman he loves, and her brother Drake continues to moon over his lost love.
However, all is not entirely bleak. Elizabeth's unexpected and aggressive stance toward George reaps rewards for Drake, and Ross has become a member of Parliament at George's expense. Prosperity is upon the Poldarks, at least for now. And Morwenna has stood up to her odious husband.
In an earlier review, I wondered if there was a nastier character in Western literature than George Warleggan, but now I think he has nearly met his match in the disgusting Reverend Osborne Whitworth. From his breathtaking holier-than-thou hypocrisy, to his terrible treatment of his wife, especially when she is sick, to his brainless seduction of 13 year old Rowella, he just reeks through and through. Although he is hoisted on his own petard by Rowella (bravo, girl!), he still achieves the living of the church that should have gone to poor Odgers. But that story is not over, I suspect...
At this point, I couldn't stop reading this series if all the libraries and Amazons burned down. I just need to take a breath and get some other books in, but I'd rather start The Angry Tide today!
Whatever else you might think of Winston Graham's writing, his characters are sterling. They screw up, redeem themselves, then screw up again. Real people, fascinating in their human-ness.
This time it's Demelza's turn to be a fool and throw all her happiness away...almost. That her marriage survives (at least for now) is partly due, I think, to the death of the young man infatuated with her. This book ended very differently than the others, which although they related horrible events and problems, usually ended on a hopeful note. Here, Ross is depressed, Demelza is destroyed, Demelza's brother Sam is separating from the woman he loves, and her brother Drake continues to moon over his lost love.
However, all is not entirely bleak. Elizabeth's unexpected and aggressive stance toward George reaps rewards for Drake, and Ross has become a member of Parliament at George's expense. Prosperity is upon the Poldarks, at least for now. And Morwenna has stood up to her odious husband.
In an earlier review, I wondered if there was a nastier character in Western literature than George Warleggan, but now I think he has nearly met his match in the disgusting Reverend Osborne Whitworth. From his breathtaking holier-than-thou hypocrisy, to his terrible treatment of his wife, especially when she is sick, to his brainless seduction of 13 year old Rowella, he just reeks through and through. Although he is hoisted on his own petard by Rowella (bravo, girl!), he still achieves the living of the church that should have gone to poor Odgers. But that story is not over, I suspect...
At this point, I couldn't stop reading this series if all the libraries and Amazons burned down. I just need to take a breath and get some other books in, but I'd rather start The Angry Tide today!
January 20, 2025
Another solid offering from the world of Ross Poldark.
October 29, 2015
Impresionante que a estas alturas de la serie pueda sufrir y disfrutar tanto, ya me espero cualquier cosa. Me he quedado loca con algunas cosas quee pasan, determinados comportamientos de algunos personajes que no me esperaba. No sé explicarme pero me parece espectacular cómo consigue este escritor crear personajes tan profundos, con tantas aristas, cómo logra mantener la tensión y el interés hasta con los personajes secundarios. Y las tramas que se saca de la manga... La trama política es algo más liosa pero muy interesante (sobre todo al final). En fin, no sé qué he hecho tanto tiempo sin leer estos libros.
(Consejo: no seas como yo y vivas tanto las historias, tu salud mental lo agradecerá)
(Consejo: no seas como yo y vivas tanto las historias, tu salud mental lo agradecerá)
September 26, 2015
This book is the sixth one of twelve series of "Corwall" series has been written by Winston Graham. Four swans means for women: Demelza, Elizabeth, Verity and Caroline. Graham introduce a new character in this book; Hugh Armitage. A person who was saved from prison by Ross (Probably after that Ross damn himself!!) He was a poet and fall in love with Demelza in first sight. He always wrote romantic poems to her. It is the first time we find Demelza is attracted by another man except Ross. Finally they make loving on the beach. Of course their relationships are so brief because Hugh has tumor cancer and died. Demelza cried a lot after his dead and all of these made Ross so angry and jealousy. The reaction of Ross through this relationship and Demelza betray is the most interesting point for me in this book. After he betrayed to Demelza with sleeping with Elizabeth now Demelza do the same with him. I find Ross so modern man and reasonable person in this book. He tried to know about his wife's feeling. I believe Graham display the complexity of love in a fascinating way. Their relationship always has up and down but they always being together. None of them couldn’t leave each other because they love each other. So they try to fight with all these ghost. It is so brilliant! It is the part of the book that I read several times. It is when Ross knew about relationship between Demelza and Hugh and dialogue between them.
"Hugh Armitage has just died, Ross has gone off to Truro and been elected an MP and gets home, frustrated, confused and worn out with the events of a long, difficult year.
"Lights burned in the old parlour but not in the new library. Generally speaking they still tended to live in the old part of the house and keep the library for 'best'. Gimlett heard him coming and trotted round the house to take Sheridan.
'Is the mistress in the parlour?'
'No, sur, she went out two hours agone.'
'Out?'
'Yes, sur.'
He found Jeremy and Clowance in the parlour playing some very untidy game with Betsy Maria Martin, a pretty girl now of sixteen, who always blushed when she saw Ross exactly as her sister had done so many years ago.
'Sorry, sur. Twas supposed to be a game of moving furniture--'
Her explanations were drowned by the noisy welcome the two children gave their father. He swung them up and kissed them and teased them while Betsy hurriedly began to put the chairs and table to rights.
'Mistress is out, I hear?'
'Yes, sur. She went soon after dinner.'
'Did she say where?'
'No, sur. But twas not riding. I thought she'd be back before dark.'
Ross saw the crumpled note on the mantelshelf. He picked it up and read; 'My dear Mrs Poldark, It is with grief that I have to tell you......' and at the bottom 'Frances Gower'. While Clowance bubbled in his ear he thought: Well, she cannot have gone there, not walking. Where could she have gone? Anger welled up in him that was half anxiety.
'Did she leave a message?'
'Who, mistress? Nay, but she told Jane to see for the supper.'
'Did she say she would be back for supper?'
'I dunno, sur. Not to me she didn't say nothing.'
After a while he went upstairs to their bedroom. Her blue cloak had gone, nothing else. No scribbled message, as normally there was. He went down again and walked slowly round the outhouses. The two piglets, Ebb and Flow, already grown to substantial size, occupied their own special box next to the horses. But they were still pets and were let out to roam about the yard most days. They greeted him with snorts and snuffles of recognition and he gave them each a chunk of bread he had brought for the purpose. Sheridan, being just fed, was content with a pat and a stroke, as was Swift, though Swift, you could see, was restive for lack of exercise.
In the kitchen Jane Gimlett's head was over a pot of soup and Ena Daniel was cutting up some leeks. Screams of laughter and bangs on the stairs indicated that Jeremy and Clowance were making a slow way to bed. He went back into the parlour. It was all tidy again, except for a few things the children had dropped. He picked these up and put them in the basket behind the big armchair, poured himself a glass of brandy and drank half of it. Then he drew the curtains. A fire was flickering, almost lost in the great hearth, and he shovelled more coal on and watched the smoke balloon up the chimney.
The brandy had gone down like raw spirit, burning deep into his stomach; but it didn't touch the other rawness within him. He was conscious of ever growing anger against his wife. There might or might not be good reasons for such anger, but this was not a rational thing. It sprang from deeper and more primitive sources. It seemed that all his rawness, all his distress, all his sense of disillusion and frustration and emptiness sprang from her. Together they had had everything and she had flung it all away. Almost without a thought to what she was spoiling and soiling for ever. Demelza, whom he had dragged up and loved and worked for devotedly; a man had come and smiled at her and held her hand and she had weakly, sentimentally and wantonly fallen in love. Almost without a token resistance. From the moment Hugh Armitage set eyes on her she had been ready to melt into his arms. And had made no secret of the fact, even to Ross. 'Ross,' she had more or less said, 'this beautiful young man is after me and I like it. I can't help it. I'm going to give myself to him. A pity about our home, our children, our happiness, our love, our trust. Such a pity. A shame. Too bad. Goodbye.'
All the rest too, this involvement in Parliament, the now unbridgeable and final breach with George, the ...He swallowed his brandy and poured another.
And now Hugh was dead and now she was gone. Where the hell could she have gone? Perhaps she would not come back. Perhaps it was better that she should not. He could manage the children, Betsy Maria and Jane Gimlett could manage the house. To hell with her. He should have known better than to drag her out of the gutter, make a sham lady of her.
He gulped the second glass. He was strangely tired, an uncommon feeling for him. The day had been exacting in the wrong ways, the farce of the election, the stupid trumpery celebration dinner. He had eaten little at it and now felt hungry, yet had not the stomach to eat. He could be bothered with nothing.
As he finished the second glass of brandy a footstep at the door.
Her face was ashen, her hair blown as if it were windy out. They stared at each other. She dropped her cloak on a chair. It did not catch and slid slowly like a snake to the floor. She looked down at it.
'Ross,' she said in a flat voice. 'I'm sorry. I hoped to be back for you.'
'Where in hell have you been?'
She bent and picked up her cloak, smoothed it with a slow hand. 'Have you supped?'
'No.'
'I'll tell Jane.'
'I don't want it.'
After a moment she shook her head as if trying to clear it. 'You know?'
'About Hugh? Yes. I saw Lord Falmouth in Truro.'
She sat quietly in the chair, cloak on her knees. 'It was last night.'
'Yes.'
She put a hand up to either cheek and stared round the room. She might have lost her way.
'Demelza, where have you been?'
'What? Now? To- to see Caroline.'
'Oh....' That somehow did not seem so bad. 'You walked?'
'Yes....It was - it was something to do. The - the exercise did me - it helped.' Her eyes went to the glass in his hand.
'You'd best have some of this.'
'No.' She shook her head again. 'I don't think so. I should only sick it up.'
Outside an owl was hooting in the dark.
He said: 'It's a long walk. You'd best have something.'
'No .....thank you, Ross. But when I went - I went in the wrong shoes. I forgot to change them.'
He saw she was wearing her house slippers. They were badly scuffed and the back of one was broken.
He went to pour himself another brandy.
She said: 'I went to see Caroline only because - because I thought she would know how I felt, how - how...She is so...'
'And did she?'
'I believe so.' She shivered.
He poked the fire, coaxing a reluctant blaze from the smoking coal.
'Did you - have a good day in Truro?' she asked.
'So-so.'
'How did you meet Lord Falmouth?'
'He was at a meeting.'
'Did he seem upset?'
'Yes, very.'
'It's such a - such a waste.'
'Perhaps if Dwight had continued...'
'No. At least he said not. Perhaps he was being modest.'
'Was Dwight there when you talked to Caroline?'
'Oh, no. Oh, no.'
Ross stared at his wife and then went to the cupboard under the old bookcase - where she had once hidden from her father - and took out a pair of shoes she sometimes used on the beach, canvas and flat and comfortable. He brought them over and she made to take them from him.
'Look,' he said roughly, and knelt and took her slippers off, one after the other, and put the other shoes on. Her stockings were holed and her feet were bruised, and stained here and there with blood.
'You'll do well to wash them presently,' he said.
'Oh, Ross...'
She put her hands on his shoulders, but he stood up and her hands fell back to her lap.
He said: 'The cattle sale was poor. People are trying to get rid of their cows for the winter, and no one wants to buy.'
'Yes..'
There was another long silence. She said: 'The little Treneglos girl came over today - just to call to invite Jeremy to a party. She is badly marked. They have used rotten-apple water but it seems to have done little for her.'
He did not reply.
'I - had to talk to someone,' she said, 'so I went to Caroline. Although she is so different from me I know no-one closer, more truly a friend.'
'Except me.'
'Oh, Ross.' She began to cry.
'Well... was it not so? Until this happened, was it not so?'
'It was so. It is so. You... I talk to you always, with nothing between us. No one has ever been so close. Never. But in this---'
'Until this.'
'But in this - over this, it is too much to ask - of me - of you. It has to be another woman. And even then...'
He said: 'Well, you have no need to confide in me more than you want. Just say what you want to do - now - tell me what you want, no more, no less.'
'Want?' she said 'I want nothing.'
'Nothing?'
'Nothing more than I have.'
'Had.'
'As you please, Ross. It's just as you say.'
'No, my dear, it's just as you say.'
'Please, Ross, don't...'
'Stop crying, you fool,' he said roughly, 'It solves nothing.'
She wiped her sleeve across her eyes, sniffled and looked at him through a mixture of hair and wet lashes. He could have killed her because he loved her.
She said: 'What do you want me to do?'
'Leave or stay, just as you wish.'
'Leave?' she said. 'I don't want to leave. How could I possibly go away from here - from all, all that we have together?'
'Perhaps you should have thought of it before.'
'Yes,' she said, standing up, 'perhaps I should.'
He bent again to stab at the fire.
'Well,' she said, 'if you want me to go I will,'
The words rose to his lips to agree that she should leave but they would not come out. They choked in his throat and congealed in a greater anger.
The door came open. Only Clowance stood there. She had become a stout little girl this year. Her great good health and contentment had given her a face with fat cheeks and arms with fat wrists, and the shape of her face was as broad at it was long. Her fair hair curled about her shoulders and a sort of fringe had grown unchallenged and stood out from her forehead. She was wearing a long white flannel nightgown.
She said: 'Mama! Where you was?'
'Yes, my love, what is it?' It was Ross who answered.
'Mama promised.'
'What did she promise?'
'To read me that story.'
'What story?'
Demelza incautiously raised her head. 'It was the - I've forgot the title - in that book--'
Clowance took one look at her mother's face and immediately let out a howl of intense anguish. The door from the kitchen opened and Betsy Maria came out.
'Oh, beg pardon, I didn't know--' She picked up the howling Clowance. Demelza had turned quickly and was hiding her face by letting her hair fall about it as she bent over Ross's glass.
'Take her up,' Ross said. 'Tell her her mother will be up in a few minutes. Stay with her till then. Is Jeremy asleep?'
'I b'lieve so, sur.'
'Tell her she'll come to read the story in a few minutes.'
The door closed.
Demelza wiped her eyes again and gulped some of Ross's drink. Ross picked up her ruined slippers and dropped them in the children's basket, took up her cloak a second time, folded it. It was not an instinct of tidiness.
'Tell me how you feel,' he said.
'You mean you don't want me to leave?'
'Tell me how you feel.'
'Oh, Ross, how can I? How dare I?'
'Indeed. But try.'
'What have I to say? I never intended. This crept on me unawares. I never thought - you must know I never thought... I am so sad. For - for all things.'
'Yes, well....Sit down here a minute and tell me.'
'What more is there to say?'
'Tell me what you feel about Hugh.'
'Really?'
'Really.'
She used her sleeve again. 'How can I say truthfully, when I am not sure myself? I tell you, it came on me unawares. It was the last thing I ever sought. Now my heart feels broken...But not in the way - not like at Julia's death. Now I weep tears, tears, tears, for so much youth and love buried into the ground...When Julia died I had no tears. They were internal - like blood. Now - now they stream down my face like rain - like rain that I cannot stop. Oh, Ross, will you not hold me?'
'Yes,' he said, doing it.
'Please hold me and never let me go.'
'Nor shall I, if you give me the chance.'
'Not till we die, Ross, I could not live without you...These - these are not the tears of a penitent - I may have reason to be penitent - but this is not that. I cry - it sounds silly - I weep for Hugh and - and for myself - and for - for the whole world.'
'Set some tears aside for me,' Ross said, 'for I believe I need them.'
'Oh, they are all yours,' she said, and then choked completely and clung to him with great shaking sobs.
They sat for a while, crouched in an awkward attitude that neither noticed. Now and then he would free a hand to thrust it impatiently across his own nose and eyes.
After a long time he said: 'Clowance will be waiting.'
'I'll go in a minute. But first I must wash my face.'
'Drink this.'
She took a second gulp from his glass.
'You are very good to me, Ross.'
'Good for you, no doubt.'
'To me...forgiving...But forgetting? I don't know. Perhaps it's a mistake to forget. All I know is that I love you. I suppose that's all that really matters.'
'It's what matters to me.'
She shuddered and put a hand to each eye in turn. 'I'll wash my face and then go and read, and then if you want you can have a bite of supper.'
'I think,' said Ross, 'I'll come and read a while with you."
"Hugh Armitage has just died, Ross has gone off to Truro and been elected an MP and gets home, frustrated, confused and worn out with the events of a long, difficult year.
"Lights burned in the old parlour but not in the new library. Generally speaking they still tended to live in the old part of the house and keep the library for 'best'. Gimlett heard him coming and trotted round the house to take Sheridan.
'Is the mistress in the parlour?'
'No, sur, she went out two hours agone.'
'Out?'
'Yes, sur.'
He found Jeremy and Clowance in the parlour playing some very untidy game with Betsy Maria Martin, a pretty girl now of sixteen, who always blushed when she saw Ross exactly as her sister had done so many years ago.
'Sorry, sur. Twas supposed to be a game of moving furniture--'
Her explanations were drowned by the noisy welcome the two children gave their father. He swung them up and kissed them and teased them while Betsy hurriedly began to put the chairs and table to rights.
'Mistress is out, I hear?'
'Yes, sur. She went soon after dinner.'
'Did she say where?'
'No, sur. But twas not riding. I thought she'd be back before dark.'
Ross saw the crumpled note on the mantelshelf. He picked it up and read; 'My dear Mrs Poldark, It is with grief that I have to tell you......' and at the bottom 'Frances Gower'. While Clowance bubbled in his ear he thought: Well, she cannot have gone there, not walking. Where could she have gone? Anger welled up in him that was half anxiety.
'Did she leave a message?'
'Who, mistress? Nay, but she told Jane to see for the supper.'
'Did she say she would be back for supper?'
'I dunno, sur. Not to me she didn't say nothing.'
After a while he went upstairs to their bedroom. Her blue cloak had gone, nothing else. No scribbled message, as normally there was. He went down again and walked slowly round the outhouses. The two piglets, Ebb and Flow, already grown to substantial size, occupied their own special box next to the horses. But they were still pets and were let out to roam about the yard most days. They greeted him with snorts and snuffles of recognition and he gave them each a chunk of bread he had brought for the purpose. Sheridan, being just fed, was content with a pat and a stroke, as was Swift, though Swift, you could see, was restive for lack of exercise.
In the kitchen Jane Gimlett's head was over a pot of soup and Ena Daniel was cutting up some leeks. Screams of laughter and bangs on the stairs indicated that Jeremy and Clowance were making a slow way to bed. He went back into the parlour. It was all tidy again, except for a few things the children had dropped. He picked these up and put them in the basket behind the big armchair, poured himself a glass of brandy and drank half of it. Then he drew the curtains. A fire was flickering, almost lost in the great hearth, and he shovelled more coal on and watched the smoke balloon up the chimney.
The brandy had gone down like raw spirit, burning deep into his stomach; but it didn't touch the other rawness within him. He was conscious of ever growing anger against his wife. There might or might not be good reasons for such anger, but this was not a rational thing. It sprang from deeper and more primitive sources. It seemed that all his rawness, all his distress, all his sense of disillusion and frustration and emptiness sprang from her. Together they had had everything and she had flung it all away. Almost without a thought to what she was spoiling and soiling for ever. Demelza, whom he had dragged up and loved and worked for devotedly; a man had come and smiled at her and held her hand and she had weakly, sentimentally and wantonly fallen in love. Almost without a token resistance. From the moment Hugh Armitage set eyes on her she had been ready to melt into his arms. And had made no secret of the fact, even to Ross. 'Ross,' she had more or less said, 'this beautiful young man is after me and I like it. I can't help it. I'm going to give myself to him. A pity about our home, our children, our happiness, our love, our trust. Such a pity. A shame. Too bad. Goodbye.'
All the rest too, this involvement in Parliament, the now unbridgeable and final breach with George, the ...He swallowed his brandy and poured another.
And now Hugh was dead and now she was gone. Where the hell could she have gone? Perhaps she would not come back. Perhaps it was better that she should not. He could manage the children, Betsy Maria and Jane Gimlett could manage the house. To hell with her. He should have known better than to drag her out of the gutter, make a sham lady of her.
He gulped the second glass. He was strangely tired, an uncommon feeling for him. The day had been exacting in the wrong ways, the farce of the election, the stupid trumpery celebration dinner. He had eaten little at it and now felt hungry, yet had not the stomach to eat. He could be bothered with nothing.
As he finished the second glass of brandy a footstep at the door.
Her face was ashen, her hair blown as if it were windy out. They stared at each other. She dropped her cloak on a chair. It did not catch and slid slowly like a snake to the floor. She looked down at it.
'Ross,' she said in a flat voice. 'I'm sorry. I hoped to be back for you.'
'Where in hell have you been?'
She bent and picked up her cloak, smoothed it with a slow hand. 'Have you supped?'
'No.'
'I'll tell Jane.'
'I don't want it.'
After a moment she shook her head as if trying to clear it. 'You know?'
'About Hugh? Yes. I saw Lord Falmouth in Truro.'
She sat quietly in the chair, cloak on her knees. 'It was last night.'
'Yes.'
She put a hand up to either cheek and stared round the room. She might have lost her way.
'Demelza, where have you been?'
'What? Now? To- to see Caroline.'
'Oh....' That somehow did not seem so bad. 'You walked?'
'Yes....It was - it was something to do. The - the exercise did me - it helped.' Her eyes went to the glass in his hand.
'You'd best have some of this.'
'No.' She shook her head again. 'I don't think so. I should only sick it up.'
Outside an owl was hooting in the dark.
He said: 'It's a long walk. You'd best have something.'
'No .....thank you, Ross. But when I went - I went in the wrong shoes. I forgot to change them.'
He saw she was wearing her house slippers. They were badly scuffed and the back of one was broken.
He went to pour himself another brandy.
She said: 'I went to see Caroline only because - because I thought she would know how I felt, how - how...She is so...'
'And did she?'
'I believe so.' She shivered.
He poked the fire, coaxing a reluctant blaze from the smoking coal.
'Did you - have a good day in Truro?' she asked.
'So-so.'
'How did you meet Lord Falmouth?'
'He was at a meeting.'
'Did he seem upset?'
'Yes, very.'
'It's such a - such a waste.'
'Perhaps if Dwight had continued...'
'No. At least he said not. Perhaps he was being modest.'
'Was Dwight there when you talked to Caroline?'
'Oh, no. Oh, no.'
Ross stared at his wife and then went to the cupboard under the old bookcase - where she had once hidden from her father - and took out a pair of shoes she sometimes used on the beach, canvas and flat and comfortable. He brought them over and she made to take them from him.
'Look,' he said roughly, and knelt and took her slippers off, one after the other, and put the other shoes on. Her stockings were holed and her feet were bruised, and stained here and there with blood.
'You'll do well to wash them presently,' he said.
'Oh, Ross...'
She put her hands on his shoulders, but he stood up and her hands fell back to her lap.
He said: 'The cattle sale was poor. People are trying to get rid of their cows for the winter, and no one wants to buy.'
'Yes..'
There was another long silence. She said: 'The little Treneglos girl came over today - just to call to invite Jeremy to a party. She is badly marked. They have used rotten-apple water but it seems to have done little for her.'
He did not reply.
'I - had to talk to someone,' she said, 'so I went to Caroline. Although she is so different from me I know no-one closer, more truly a friend.'
'Except me.'
'Oh, Ross.' She began to cry.
'Well... was it not so? Until this happened, was it not so?'
'It was so. It is so. You... I talk to you always, with nothing between us. No one has ever been so close. Never. But in this---'
'Until this.'
'But in this - over this, it is too much to ask - of me - of you. It has to be another woman. And even then...'
He said: 'Well, you have no need to confide in me more than you want. Just say what you want to do - now - tell me what you want, no more, no less.'
'Want?' she said 'I want nothing.'
'Nothing?'
'Nothing more than I have.'
'Had.'
'As you please, Ross. It's just as you say.'
'No, my dear, it's just as you say.'
'Please, Ross, don't...'
'Stop crying, you fool,' he said roughly, 'It solves nothing.'
She wiped her sleeve across her eyes, sniffled and looked at him through a mixture of hair and wet lashes. He could have killed her because he loved her.
She said: 'What do you want me to do?'
'Leave or stay, just as you wish.'
'Leave?' she said. 'I don't want to leave. How could I possibly go away from here - from all, all that we have together?'
'Perhaps you should have thought of it before.'
'Yes,' she said, standing up, 'perhaps I should.'
He bent again to stab at the fire.
'Well,' she said, 'if you want me to go I will,'
The words rose to his lips to agree that she should leave but they would not come out. They choked in his throat and congealed in a greater anger.
The door came open. Only Clowance stood there. She had become a stout little girl this year. Her great good health and contentment had given her a face with fat cheeks and arms with fat wrists, and the shape of her face was as broad at it was long. Her fair hair curled about her shoulders and a sort of fringe had grown unchallenged and stood out from her forehead. She was wearing a long white flannel nightgown.
She said: 'Mama! Where you was?'
'Yes, my love, what is it?' It was Ross who answered.
'Mama promised.'
'What did she promise?'
'To read me that story.'
'What story?'
Demelza incautiously raised her head. 'It was the - I've forgot the title - in that book--'
Clowance took one look at her mother's face and immediately let out a howl of intense anguish. The door from the kitchen opened and Betsy Maria came out.
'Oh, beg pardon, I didn't know--' She picked up the howling Clowance. Demelza had turned quickly and was hiding her face by letting her hair fall about it as she bent over Ross's glass.
'Take her up,' Ross said. 'Tell her her mother will be up in a few minutes. Stay with her till then. Is Jeremy asleep?'
'I b'lieve so, sur.'
'Tell her she'll come to read the story in a few minutes.'
The door closed.
Demelza wiped her eyes again and gulped some of Ross's drink. Ross picked up her ruined slippers and dropped them in the children's basket, took up her cloak a second time, folded it. It was not an instinct of tidiness.
'Tell me how you feel,' he said.
'You mean you don't want me to leave?'
'Tell me how you feel.'
'Oh, Ross, how can I? How dare I?'
'Indeed. But try.'
'What have I to say? I never intended. This crept on me unawares. I never thought - you must know I never thought... I am so sad. For - for all things.'
'Yes, well....Sit down here a minute and tell me.'
'What more is there to say?'
'Tell me what you feel about Hugh.'
'Really?'
'Really.'
She used her sleeve again. 'How can I say truthfully, when I am not sure myself? I tell you, it came on me unawares. It was the last thing I ever sought. Now my heart feels broken...But not in the way - not like at Julia's death. Now I weep tears, tears, tears, for so much youth and love buried into the ground...When Julia died I had no tears. They were internal - like blood. Now - now they stream down my face like rain - like rain that I cannot stop. Oh, Ross, will you not hold me?'
'Yes,' he said, doing it.
'Please hold me and never let me go.'
'Nor shall I, if you give me the chance.'
'Not till we die, Ross, I could not live without you...These - these are not the tears of a penitent - I may have reason to be penitent - but this is not that. I cry - it sounds silly - I weep for Hugh and - and for myself - and for - for the whole world.'
'Set some tears aside for me,' Ross said, 'for I believe I need them.'
'Oh, they are all yours,' she said, and then choked completely and clung to him with great shaking sobs.
They sat for a while, crouched in an awkward attitude that neither noticed. Now and then he would free a hand to thrust it impatiently across his own nose and eyes.
After a long time he said: 'Clowance will be waiting.'
'I'll go in a minute. But first I must wash my face.'
'Drink this.'
She took a second gulp from his glass.
'You are very good to me, Ross.'
'Good for you, no doubt.'
'To me...forgiving...But forgetting? I don't know. Perhaps it's a mistake to forget. All I know is that I love you. I suppose that's all that really matters.'
'It's what matters to me.'
She shuddered and put a hand to each eye in turn. 'I'll wash my face and then go and read, and then if you want you can have a bite of supper.'
'I think,' said Ross, 'I'll come and read a while with you."
January 2, 2026
Тази поредица е като краста. След доста спихната пета част, където Греъм още не беше разгънал мускули след 20 годишно прекъсване, в шестата част той и сюжетът са в прекрасна форма, и неуморно дефилират по хартиената (електронната) котешка пътечка като шармантна манекенка на световен дизайнер-артист.
Срещаме се с най-похотливия, ограничен и добре школуван за пред обществото викарий от английски роман, с лек уклон към BDSM. Със съсипаната му съпруга, продадена като кон, но с далеч по-малко внимание. Налитаме на най-анти бебешки настроената бъдеща майка в лицето на Каролайн, която иска или деца да не съществуват, или направо да се появяват навършили 3 години. Джордж Уорлегън е все така разкошен self made man с нотка неувереност и с брутална хватка. Елизабет най-сетне прояви човешки чувства, отиващи отвъд добрите обноски - което за пореден път доказва как човек може да се самозаблуди неизличимо, че изисканите маниери всъщност са истинският характер на човека.
Коронката на тортата са, разбира се, Рос и Демелза. На Демелза ѝ писна да е точно Демелза (детински бунт на 8-та година от брака) и реши да провери какво би било, ако не е Демелза, а някоя друга. Естествено, издъни се с гръм и трясък и за малко не си разби семейството. Рос пък най-сетне достигна етапа “зряла личност”, както винаги - неподдаващ се на конвенции и условности, и беше абсолютният ми любимец и звезда на това шесто поред книжно шоу.
То се е видяло, ще преборя и следващата част, и след нея - честна пионерска, мир и покой, и прекъсване за нормалните събития в следвоенна Европа на Тони Джъд, направо ще е разтоварващо след тези дълбоки корнуолски подводни течения и драми (с малко революционна Франция в компанията на мадам Гилотина).
4,5⭐️
Срещаме се с най-похотливия, ограничен и добре школуван за пред обществото викарий от английски роман, с лек уклон към BDSM. Със съсипаната му съпруга, продадена като кон, но с далеч по-малко внимание. Налитаме на най-анти бебешки настроената бъдеща майка в лицето на Каролайн, която иска или деца да не съществуват, или направо да се появяват навършили 3 години. Джордж Уорлегън е все така разкошен self made man с нотка неувереност и с брутална хватка. Елизабет най-сетне прояви човешки чувства, отиващи отвъд добрите обноски - което за пореден път доказва как човек може да се самозаблуди неизличимо, че изисканите маниери всъщност са истинският характер на човека.
Коронката на тортата са, разбира се, Рос и Демелза. На Демелза ѝ писна да е точно Демелза (детински бунт на 8-та година от брака) и реши да провери какво би било, ако не е Демелза, а някоя друга. Естествено, издъни се с гръм и трясък и за малко не си разби семейството. Рос пък най-сетне достигна етапа “зряла личност”, както винаги - неподдаващ се на конвенции и условности, и беше абсолютният ми любимец и звезда на това шесто поред книжно шоу.
То се е видяло, ще преборя и следващата част, и след нея - честна пионерска, мир и покой, и прекъсване за нормалните събития в следвоенна Европа на Тони Джъд, направо ще е разтоварващо след тези дълбоки корнуолски подводни течения и драми (с малко революционна Франция в компанията на мадам Гилотина).
4,5⭐️
January 10, 2010
Winston Graham really does an excellent job of developing his characters. I see why this series was so popular in Britian. Book #1 was written in 1951, this book (#6) was written in 1976. The main character, Ross Poldark, goes thru a time of depression and the author says it so well in one of the most profound things I have ever read.. "It was not merely his own life but all life that was equally empty and purposeless. People, countless thousands, were hatched upon the earth like maggots every day: they breathed and crawled and enough of them survived and bred to preserve the species; but within a space -the blinking of a few sunrises - some accident, some foul-smelling disease befell everyone of them and they were thrust into the earth and hastily trodden down by the next generations. On to Book #7.....
May 28, 2018
4.5 stars.
September 11, 2011
The Four Swans is the sixth book on Poldark's saga. Who are the four swans? Demelza who unexpectedly finds a new lover; Elizabeth for whom Ross still has a special place in his heart for her, perhaps something else even more important than that; Caroline which marriage takes another step through motherhood; and Morwena with an unhappy marriage with Osborne Whitworth and the special attention given to her by Demelza's brother Drake Cane. As historical background, the Napoleonic war starts to blow its first shots into European countries.
August 29, 2020
One of the sadder, darker volumes of the series, The Four Swans is also slightly more feminine than the previous books. Late in the novel, Ross Poldark sees four swans, one injured, and meditates on them as the four women in his life. (Lest it put you off the series, please note that he is not given to such romantic brooding normally, being prone to Brood™ about other things.) So, in this volume, we get more of Elizabeth Warleggan's perspective, more about Caroline Enys's perceptions, and more about Demelza Poldark's inner workings. Morwenna Whitworth is the final swan, but she is detached for the whole novel--from the reader, from her world, from herself. As she is in a highly abusive marriage and is ill for much of the book, it makes literary sense. Yet, she's still one of my favorite characters of the series and it's hard to be distanced from her in the second book she appears in.
Politics make up a heavy portion of The Four Swans. The creaky political system of the late 18th century, grumbling itself awake with fear of the French Revolution, is displayed in Graham's traditional style of long, boozy, fireside conversations between landowning men (not even all of them can vote). We get a front row seat into how the landed gentry responded to the revolution itself, but also to the questions it raised. England was beginning to wake up to its social problems and try to solve them without losing their class systems. While I may have skimmed some of these portions--political history is only slightly more interesting than military history, the driest of dry to me--it is interesting to see how the powerful classes (through Graham's imagination) dealt with issues of their day. What I would have liked to see more is what anyone but landowning males thought about things, but then, it's not like they had the chance to be well-informed.
Some of the more excellent scenes in The Four Swans include the Warleggans' confrontation about the parentage of Valentine; Ross counseling Dwight and Caroline on their marriage; and the machinations of the Whitworth home, which are gripping to read in a perverse way. I had some issues with the portrayal of Rowella Chynoweth, but The Four Swans was published 21 years after Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita and I do wonder if there was some sort of influence there. I have not read Lolita yet, but the relationship between Rowella and Osborne Whitworth reminded me of what little I know about the one between Dolores Haze and Humbert Humbert, though Rowella likely shows much more agency than Dolores. I've seen other reviewers compare the early relationship of Ross and Demelza to the one in Lolita, however. I don't know. Both are somewhat problematic. In the case of Ross and Demelza, things resolve well for both parties. For Whitworth and Rowella, it's clear that though he thinks himself the manipulator, she is actually manipulating him. Yet, we don't get into Rowella's mind much, nor are we ever given an explanation for why she is so prurient, when she and Morwenna had identical childhoods (Morwenna barely had sex explained to her before she was forced into marrying an insatiable rapist). Whitworth speculates, but he is not to be trusted, so this was a missed opportunity for Graham to characterize Rowella.
The Hugh/Demelza plotline is just not my favorite, either. I'm simply unsatisfied with Demelza's rationale for her infidelity. I suppose Graham wanted to work up some conflict in the Poldark home, and perhaps make Demelza less of a saint, but I think that could have been done with the issues her brothers face, possibly by making her stand up for them. Regardless, I'm glad that episode is mostly over.
At least I know what's coming in the next installment...putting Morwenna and Drake on the cover is a bit of a giveaway, but I'm a shameless #Drorwenna shipper and I'm not complaining.
Content warnings: graphic description of a man being publicly hanged; grooming, pedophilia, and infidelity (not super graphic but highly discomfiting because #OssieIsTheWhitWORST).
Politics make up a heavy portion of The Four Swans. The creaky political system of the late 18th century, grumbling itself awake with fear of the French Revolution, is displayed in Graham's traditional style of long, boozy, fireside conversations between landowning men (not even all of them can vote). We get a front row seat into how the landed gentry responded to the revolution itself, but also to the questions it raised. England was beginning to wake up to its social problems and try to solve them without losing their class systems. While I may have skimmed some of these portions--political history is only slightly more interesting than military history, the driest of dry to me--it is interesting to see how the powerful classes (through Graham's imagination) dealt with issues of their day. What I would have liked to see more is what anyone but landowning males thought about things, but then, it's not like they had the chance to be well-informed.
Some of the more excellent scenes in The Four Swans include the Warleggans' confrontation about the parentage of Valentine; Ross counseling Dwight and Caroline on their marriage; and the machinations of the Whitworth home, which are gripping to read in a perverse way. I had some issues with the portrayal of Rowella Chynoweth, but The Four Swans was published 21 years after Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita and I do wonder if there was some sort of influence there. I have not read Lolita yet, but the relationship between Rowella and Osborne Whitworth reminded me of what little I know about the one between Dolores Haze and Humbert Humbert, though Rowella likely shows much more agency than Dolores. I've seen other reviewers compare the early relationship of Ross and Demelza to the one in Lolita, however. I don't know. Both are somewhat problematic. In the case of Ross and Demelza, things resolve well for both parties. For Whitworth and Rowella, it's clear that though he thinks himself the manipulator, she is actually manipulating him. Yet, we don't get into Rowella's mind much, nor are we ever given an explanation for why she is so prurient, when she and Morwenna had identical childhoods (Morwenna barely had sex explained to her before she was forced into marrying an insatiable rapist). Whitworth speculates, but he is not to be trusted, so this was a missed opportunity for Graham to characterize Rowella.
The Hugh/Demelza plotline is just not my favorite, either. I'm simply unsatisfied with Demelza's rationale for her infidelity. I suppose Graham wanted to work up some conflict in the Poldark home, and perhaps make Demelza less of a saint, but I think that could have been done with the issues her brothers face, possibly by making her stand up for them. Regardless, I'm glad that episode is mostly over.
At least I know what's coming in the next installment...putting Morwenna and Drake on the cover is a bit of a giveaway, but I'm a shameless #Drorwenna shipper and I'm not complaining.
Content warnings: graphic description of a man being publicly hanged; grooming, pedophilia, and infidelity (not super graphic but highly discomfiting because #OssieIsTheWhitWORST).
November 16, 2015
Well this ending didn't scare me as much as I thought it would! Ross really seems to be growing up! Demelza makes a mistake in this book, but Ross, maybe realizing he shouldn't throw stones, deals with it much more maturely than I would have thought. However, we STILL see his emotion and love for demelza even without him going off the deep end. This couple is all the stronger because they STAY and talk/work out their problems. It might take awhile for them to get to that point, but it happens when they are ready and can have clearer heads.
I also love that Ross gave demelza the space she needed without making any demands. All the years Ross loved Elizabeth, demelza always let him be and knew he would either find a way to make their life together work, or he wouldn't. She never pressured him into making a choice one way or the other. So I appreciated that however wrong demelza was (just as Ross once was), he still didn't pressure her either. And I have to say a part of me did enjoy seeing Ross suffer the way Dem did all those years and he finally got to see what it's like for the shoe to be on the other foot. It's not so nice when a love, old or new, comes between a marriage is it? However, I'm happy with the ending and the one thing there ALWAYS is with this couple is HOPE.
I also love that Ross gave demelza the space she needed without making any demands. All the years Ross loved Elizabeth, demelza always let him be and knew he would either find a way to make their life together work, or he wouldn't. She never pressured him into making a choice one way or the other. So I appreciated that however wrong demelza was (just as Ross once was), he still didn't pressure her either. And I have to say a part of me did enjoy seeing Ross suffer the way Dem did all those years and he finally got to see what it's like for the shoe to be on the other foot. It's not so nice when a love, old or new, comes between a marriage is it? However, I'm happy with the ending and the one thing there ALWAYS is with this couple is HOPE.
July 17, 2016
As much as I enjoy Graham's writing, the whole side-story of Ossie and Morwenna really could have been left out, or at least greatly reduced. Shocking turn of events as Morwenna stands up to Ossie and tells him how things are going to be. (Sidenote: Near the end of the book her sister Rowella is called "Rowena" which threw me for a minute.) It was good to see George start to feel the effects of his backstabbing and ruthless social climbing. This is a character with no redeeming qualities in the books. He's not quite as horrible in the new show. Elizabeth is as vapid and frosty as ever. She's another character whose storyline is largely departed from in the show. There's not much to like about her in the books.
December 31, 2016
Starting to get really really irritated with Ross and Demelza. Ross for still mooning over Elizabeth and not talking to Demelza and Demelza choosing to run into the arms of another man rather than talking to Ross about what is happening between him and Elizabeth. I'm ready to bang their heads together. These issues almost destroyed their marriage and it seems like they haven't learned anything
November 20, 2017
Another good installment, my favorite so far.
February 10, 2018
The French Revolution has descended to bloody madness and the British government is afraid the Revolution will spread. A series of bad harvests in Cornwall means starvation, disease and anger. None of these things directly affect Ross Poldark. With a prosperous tin mine producing enough income to fix up Nampara, a beautiful wife and two thriving young children, he has all a man could want. However, there is that unspoken lingering .... something... for Elizabeth. There's also the matter of the young man Ross inadvertently rescued from Quimper. Lieutenant Hugh Armitage, late of His Majesty's Navy, is the nephew of Lord Falmouth, the leading Tory nobleman in Cornwall. Hugh, young, dreamy, romantic and ill, has conceived a passion for Demelza. Demelza is flattered but fearful of where his attentions might lead. This attention is far far different from that of Sir Hugh Bodrugan and the other old lechers. George and Elizabeth's marriage is crumbling due to his suspicions and long-held jealousy of Ross. When the local lords decide to play a political game, George is eager to get involved and thrust himself into the notice of the aristocracy at last. It will also be a dig at Ross, setting George up higher in status. Dwight is back in business trying to heal after Quimper but healing involves being married to his work. Will his marriage with Caroline survive? Demelza's brothers have some romantic entanglements of their own. Earnest Sam's heart defies his head when he falls in love with Emma Tregirls, a young woman who is not yet saved, nor does she want to be. While Drake settles into his new life trying to forget Morwenna, she is suffering, trapped into a loveless marriage with a man who does not even respect her. As the seasons change and the years turn, everyone becomes a little older but perhaps not so much wiser.
This was a tough one to read. I had to read it a little at a time over a long time. I had already seen the show so I knew what to expect but that didn't make it easier to read. The book is more nuanced and enriched by more politics, history and subplots than the show. It's worth a read, despite the darkness, especially for the politics. The politics are very relevant to our time today. The plot I liked best was Caroline and Dwight. She's very wise when she's not being flippant and sarcastic. I really liked her thoughts on a successful marriage and I think of all of the couples, Dwight and Caroline will be the happiest in the long run. I also found it interesting how Dwight was working out the effects of the mind on the body and vice versa whereas the other doctors in the novel made me cringe with their barely out of the Middle Ages medical practices.
The relationship I hated the most was of course Morwenna and Ossie Whitworth. He is a disgusting monster. He is vain, pompous, lacks understanding of compassion, empathy, kindness and human dignity. I can't even imagine the pain Morwenna is in and the private horror she is suffering. As Ossie points out, she has no legal rights. He owns her. This story really takes a closer look at what life was like for women at that time. I prefer the lighter, happily-ever-after Jane Austen/Georgette Heyer look at the difficulties of being a woman. Morwenna is clearly depressed and the only way out would be suicide or a slow, wasting death. Personally, I think I'd opt for killing my husband. It couldn't be that hard to make sure he rolls over into his pillow at night and stops breathing. Ossie's other relationship is appalling, even if it was consensual. How and where she learned such things, I don't know. It doesn't seem possible but perhaps her strong personality persuaded that wimpy librarian to give her books unsuited for an unmarried young lady. She's only 15, which we know from Jane Austen, is just barely an adult, like a 17/18 year old today. That's absolutely sickening even if the age of consent was disgustingly low at that time. I was surprised that plot didn't play out exactly as I had suspected from the TV series but it did seem like it could have.
Second least favorite is George and Elizabeth. He's finally becoming the villain he is made out to be in the TV series. Up to the end of the previous book, he wasn't really guilty of anything really devious. He leaves that to Uncle Cary. In this book his jealousy and suspicion eat away at him and cause George to lose all reason. I have new respect for Elizabeth. She really stepped up here and overcame her annoying vapidness to do what she had to do (even if she sort of lied).
I also liked how Ross acknowledged what he had done to Elizabeth, something he ignored in the show. It did take awhile before he caught on. I'm impressed how the screenwriter turned one particular scene of inner monologue into something we could see on TV. However, I still want to bash Ross's brains in sometimes. He's still moody and brooding. He can't get off his high horse and can't let go and open up to his wife. Demelza is sweet and caring. She is also tough and I don't agree that explaining his feelings would wreck their marriage. I did like that he acknowledged her opinions and thought about what she would think and say before doing something. I don't blame Demelza for her feelings for Hugh. If Ross paid more attention to his wife (hello, remember sexy stockings?) instead of bedding her, attempted to woo her back (again hello sexy stocking time again), she may not have been so flattered by Hugh's attentions.
I have mixed feelings about Hugh. In some ways his feelings for Demelza echo Ross's feelings for Elizabeth (which serves Ross right). However, Demelza acknowledges that he comes from a different world where the rules of the game are different from her own moral code. In some ways I felt he may have been too calculating but at times he seemed innocently in love like the great poets. As Shelley, Keats and Byron are small children at this time, Hugh doesn't have them to model himself after but he has the same sort of idealized view of love the romantics would make popular. I did like how Demelza's feelings were complicated and the way she acknowledged them to Ross. I can only hope it will make their marriage stronger. I think he's going to take his wife's advice to Emma. He is sort of obligated to.
Sam Carne annoys me. Now I have a much better idea of what the heck a Methodist is and why they're so annoying. Sam broods too much on the afterlife and that other clergyman needs to stop poking his nose in and being rude. Sam is doing just fine on his own and he may even get over this salvation business. I admire that he works in the mine and how he handled the affair of the condemned rioter. That was very nicely done. His feelings for Emma are unnecessarily complicated by his "OMG she's a SINNER OMG!" feelings. Why shouldn't she enjoy herself with men who give her pleasure? She has a reputation but she doesn't care. Why shouldn't she enjoy a drink at the kiddley every once in awhile? She seems like a hard worker and an intelligent young woman. I didn't like her at first because I thought she was kind of rude and tease and might try to drive the brothers apart, but by the end I had a lot of respect for her.
I also have a lot of respect for Drake. He seems a little depressed, naturally, but he works hard and works his way through his problems. I liked how he handled his problems on his own. Tom Harry is an awful bully and I HATE bullies. I don't know what his problem with Drake is, aside from Drake being Sam's brother.
New characters here include Lord Falmouth and Lord something or other used to be Basset. They are on opposing sides of the political spectrum but are not so different after all. I absolutely loved the suggestions Ross made for improving the lives of the poor as to prevent revolution. If only someone would take his advice and carry it forward to the 21st century! We could use a wise man like him here in America! Ross Poldark for President! I didn't like Falmouth much at all and the other one turned out to be nearly as bad.
This book is tough to get through but is just perfect for those who complain Jane Austen ignored the servants, villagers and the war. This book has ALL of that and more! Winston Graham of course had the benefit of writing 200 years after the events took place. Fans of the books will be impressed how the TV series, though rushed, is mostly faithful to the books. The events are out of order but mostly all there.
This was a tough one to read. I had to read it a little at a time over a long time. I had already seen the show so I knew what to expect but that didn't make it easier to read. The book is more nuanced and enriched by more politics, history and subplots than the show. It's worth a read, despite the darkness, especially for the politics. The politics are very relevant to our time today. The plot I liked best was Caroline and Dwight. She's very wise when she's not being flippant and sarcastic. I really liked her thoughts on a successful marriage and I think of all of the couples, Dwight and Caroline will be the happiest in the long run. I also found it interesting how Dwight was working out the effects of the mind on the body and vice versa whereas the other doctors in the novel made me cringe with their barely out of the Middle Ages medical practices.
The relationship I hated the most was of course Morwenna and Ossie Whitworth. He is a disgusting monster. He is vain, pompous, lacks understanding of compassion, empathy, kindness and human dignity. I can't even imagine the pain Morwenna is in and the private horror she is suffering. As Ossie points out, she has no legal rights. He owns her. This story really takes a closer look at what life was like for women at that time. I prefer the lighter, happily-ever-after Jane Austen/Georgette Heyer look at the difficulties of being a woman. Morwenna is clearly depressed and the only way out would be suicide or a slow, wasting death. Personally, I think I'd opt for killing my husband. It couldn't be that hard to make sure he rolls over into his pillow at night and stops breathing. Ossie's other relationship is appalling, even if it was consensual. How and where she learned such things, I don't know. It doesn't seem possible but perhaps her strong personality persuaded that wimpy librarian to give her books unsuited for an unmarried young lady. She's only 15, which we know from Jane Austen, is just barely an adult, like a 17/18 year old today. That's absolutely sickening even if the age of consent was disgustingly low at that time. I was surprised that plot didn't play out exactly as I had suspected from the TV series but it did seem like it could have.
Second least favorite is George and Elizabeth. He's finally becoming the villain he is made out to be in the TV series. Up to the end of the previous book, he wasn't really guilty of anything really devious. He leaves that to Uncle Cary. In this book his jealousy and suspicion eat away at him and cause George to lose all reason. I have new respect for Elizabeth. She really stepped up here and overcame her annoying vapidness to do what she had to do (even if she sort of lied).
I also liked how Ross acknowledged what he had done to Elizabeth, something he ignored in the show. It did take awhile before he caught on. I'm impressed how the screenwriter turned one particular scene of inner monologue into something we could see on TV. However, I still want to bash Ross's brains in sometimes. He's still moody and brooding. He can't get off his high horse and can't let go and open up to his wife. Demelza is sweet and caring. She is also tough and I don't agree that explaining his feelings would wreck their marriage. I did like that he acknowledged her opinions and thought about what she would think and say before doing something. I don't blame Demelza for her feelings for Hugh. If Ross paid more attention to his wife (hello, remember sexy stockings?) instead of bedding her, attempted to woo her back (again hello sexy stocking time again), she may not have been so flattered by Hugh's attentions.
I have mixed feelings about Hugh. In some ways his feelings for Demelza echo Ross's feelings for Elizabeth (which serves Ross right). However, Demelza acknowledges that he comes from a different world where the rules of the game are different from her own moral code. In some ways I felt he may have been too calculating but at times he seemed innocently in love like the great poets. As Shelley, Keats and Byron are small children at this time, Hugh doesn't have them to model himself after but he has the same sort of idealized view of love the romantics would make popular. I did like how Demelza's feelings were complicated and the way she acknowledged them to Ross. I can only hope it will make their marriage stronger. I think he's going to take his wife's advice to Emma. He is sort of obligated to.
Sam Carne annoys me. Now I have a much better idea of what the heck a Methodist is and why they're so annoying. Sam broods too much on the afterlife and that other clergyman needs to stop poking his nose in and being rude. Sam is doing just fine on his own and he may even get over this salvation business. I admire that he works in the mine and how he handled the affair of the condemned rioter. That was very nicely done. His feelings for Emma are unnecessarily complicated by his "OMG she's a SINNER OMG!" feelings. Why shouldn't she enjoy herself with men who give her pleasure? She has a reputation but she doesn't care. Why shouldn't she enjoy a drink at the kiddley every once in awhile? She seems like a hard worker and an intelligent young woman. I didn't like her at first because I thought she was kind of rude and tease and might try to drive the brothers apart, but by the end I had a lot of respect for her.
I also have a lot of respect for Drake. He seems a little depressed, naturally, but he works hard and works his way through his problems. I liked how he handled his problems on his own. Tom Harry is an awful bully and I HATE bullies. I don't know what his problem with Drake is, aside from Drake being Sam's brother.
New characters here include Lord Falmouth and Lord something or other used to be Basset. They are on opposing sides of the political spectrum but are not so different after all. I absolutely loved the suggestions Ross made for improving the lives of the poor as to prevent revolution. If only someone would take his advice and carry it forward to the 21st century! We could use a wise man like him here in America! Ross Poldark for President! I didn't like Falmouth much at all and the other one turned out to be nearly as bad.
This book is tough to get through but is just perfect for those who complain Jane Austen ignored the servants, villagers and the war. This book has ALL of that and more! Winston Graham of course had the benefit of writing 200 years after the events took place. Fans of the books will be impressed how the TV series, though rushed, is mostly faithful to the books. The events are out of order but mostly all there.
June 16, 2017
Actual rating is 3.5/5 stars, but mostly reflects only my dislike for the whole Demelza storyline in this book. Because yes, I'm that pissed about all of that.
So I'm going to get that out of the way right away. I loved Demelza so much until now, she was my pride and joy and I felt like this storyline achieved nothing but make me love her less and I cannot for the life of me understand why it was good to have this storyline in the book. Ross and Demelza are supposed to be the main pairing of these books,
And now that that's out of the way, let's get into the next episode of Enci ranting about whether or not Ross cheating in the fourth book was rape. Lemme tell you, it was. But I think I said that enough times already. The reason I'm bringing this up again (I promise, it was not my intention in the beginning of the book) are because of two quotes that so contradict what the author says, that it was an act of love and totally consensual. First Ross says: "I have an uneasy conscience about her for the two misdeeds I committed against her. One, I took her against her will - though in the end I do not believe it was so much against her will.[...]"Even Ross says that he took her against her will. Yes, he adds that he doesn't think it was so much against her will in the end, but I honestly didn't feel like he was so fucking sure of that and the fact that 99% of the time she struggled and at the very end she didn't doesn't mean that it's not rape. It is. And the other thing was a bit later, when Elizabeth confronts George about his suspicions. She says: "Listen to this, George. Listen to it, I say! I swear on this bible, as a believing Christion and in the hope of my ultimate salvation, that I have never, never given my body to any man except to my first husband, Francis and to you, George. [...]" Now, I know that a lot of people might understand this as Elizabeth lying to George just to ease his mind and save her marriage - but if you think of it, she didn't say she never slept with anyone. She said she never gave her body freely. And what Ross did was take it against her will. Which is a nice way of saying he raped her. And I know this is all speculation but these two quotes were pretty much screaming rape for me so I just had to talk about that because it bothers me and pissed me off so much that what happened is even considered anything but rape.
Moving on. Even though I gave this book a 3.5 stars rating, most of the book was pretty fucking good and I enjoyed the shit out of it. Like I said before, that rating is mostly because of that stupid Demelza storyline and I couldn't have given the book a higher rating with a clear conscious.
I loved Ossy as a character and his entire storyline. He's a psycho and his obsessive behavior was so well written and I loved reading about him so much, especially because in the very beginning I thought I was going to hate him with passion, and he turned out to be one of the most interesting character for me. I know how his story will go in the next book and I can honestly say that I can't wait to read all about it. Also, Morwenna was fucking badass with him. That conversation they had at the end of the second part of the book was fucking amazing, I loved it so much I just can't. I seriously loved Morwenna sticking up for herself and telling him off.
I also really loved Sam and Emma's story and their slowly developing romance. Sam is a cutey so he deserves all the love and I can't wait to see more of them.
But the high of the book for me was Elizabeth comforting George about his suspicions. Going into this book I thought what Agatha threw it in George's face was going to be in the forefront of the book, and it was, though not in a way I was expecting it. It was interesting to see George doubting himself and Elizabeth and seeing a little bit of his vulnerable side, one that we didn't really get to see yet. And then that entire scene happened, and I was eating up every single word. It was so nicely put together and I just-- ahhhhhh, it was just amazing, ok? And I wish I could say that I can't wait to see that soon in the new episodes but based on what I saw in the first episode of season 3, they're probably going to butcher the whole thing, they already kind of butchered it, so ugh. I'm pissed about it.
Another great scene was the vote at the end of the book. I was sitting on the edge of my seat and laughing out loud at the same time. I love how Winston Graham can build up suspense and weave all these stories together in such nice and awesome climatic scenes.
Basically, I really loved that book, except for that one fucking storyline that destroyed Demelza's character for me. Oh, and I wish we would have gotten more Dwight and Caroline, but I guess I can't have anything, right?
So I'm going to get that out of the way right away. I loved Demelza so much until now, she was my pride and joy and I felt like this storyline achieved nothing but make me love her less and I cannot for the life of me understand why it was good to have this storyline in the book. Ross and Demelza are supposed to be the main pairing of these books,
And now that that's out of the way, let's get into the next episode of Enci ranting about whether or not Ross cheating in the fourth book was rape. Lemme tell you, it was. But I think I said that enough times already. The reason I'm bringing this up again (I promise, it was not my intention in the beginning of the book) are because of two quotes that so contradict what the author says, that it was an act of love and totally consensual. First Ross says: "I have an uneasy conscience about her for the two misdeeds I committed against her. One, I took her against her will - though in the end I do not believe it was so much against her will.[...]"Even Ross says that he took her against her will. Yes, he adds that he doesn't think it was so much against her will in the end, but I honestly didn't feel like he was so fucking sure of that and the fact that 99% of the time she struggled and at the very end she didn't doesn't mean that it's not rape. It is. And the other thing was a bit later, when Elizabeth confronts George about his suspicions. She says: "Listen to this, George. Listen to it, I say! I swear on this bible, as a believing Christion and in the hope of my ultimate salvation, that I have never, never given my body to any man except to my first husband, Francis and to you, George. [...]" Now, I know that a lot of people might understand this as Elizabeth lying to George just to ease his mind and save her marriage - but if you think of it, she didn't say she never slept with anyone. She said she never gave her body freely. And what Ross did was take it against her will. Which is a nice way of saying he raped her. And I know this is all speculation but these two quotes were pretty much screaming rape for me so I just had to talk about that because it bothers me and pissed me off so much that what happened is even considered anything but rape.
Moving on. Even though I gave this book a 3.5 stars rating, most of the book was pretty fucking good and I enjoyed the shit out of it. Like I said before, that rating is mostly because of that stupid Demelza storyline and I couldn't have given the book a higher rating with a clear conscious.
I loved Ossy as a character and his entire storyline. He's a psycho and his obsessive behavior was so well written and I loved reading about him so much, especially because in the very beginning I thought I was going to hate him with passion, and he turned out to be one of the most interesting character for me. I know how his story will go in the next book and I can honestly say that I can't wait to read all about it. Also, Morwenna was fucking badass with him. That conversation they had at the end of the second part of the book was fucking amazing, I loved it so much I just can't. I seriously loved Morwenna sticking up for herself and telling him off.
I also really loved Sam and Emma's story and their slowly developing romance. Sam is a cutey so he deserves all the love and I can't wait to see more of them.
But the high of the book for me was Elizabeth comforting George about his suspicions. Going into this book I thought what Agatha threw it in George's face was going to be in the forefront of the book, and it was, though not in a way I was expecting it. It was interesting to see George doubting himself and Elizabeth and seeing a little bit of his vulnerable side, one that we didn't really get to see yet. And then that entire scene happened, and I was eating up every single word. It was so nicely put together and I just-- ahhhhhh, it was just amazing, ok? And I wish I could say that I can't wait to see that soon in the new episodes but based on what I saw in the first episode of season 3, they're probably going to butcher the whole thing, they already kind of butchered it, so ugh. I'm pissed about it.
Another great scene was the vote at the end of the book. I was sitting on the edge of my seat and laughing out loud at the same time. I love how Winston Graham can build up suspense and weave all these stories together in such nice and awesome climatic scenes.
Basically, I really loved that book, except for that one fucking storyline that destroyed Demelza's character for me. Oh, and I wish we would have gotten more Dwight and Caroline, but I guess I can't have anything, right?
August 5, 2017
"Whatsoever love hath ordained it is not fit to despise"
February 12, 2016
In this sixth book of the Poldark Saga, the four swans are four women whose lives touch Ross: Demelza, Elizabeth, Caroline, and Morwenna. For a man that often seems to be rather ignorant of love beyond his past pining for Elizabeth, Ross has a remarkable romantic streak for the lives and relationships of others! This story perhaps falls more in the "romance" genre than the others as numerous men reconcile themselves to loves they cannot have--Demelza's brothers Sam and Drake and the besotted Hugh Armitage, yearning for the wife of the man that saved his life.
The author includes many moments of introspection and deep thoughts in this novel. From Hugh: "By giving love you do not diminish it. Love only adds to itself, it never destroys. Tenderness is not like money; the more you give to one the more you have for others." From Ross: "No man wants his wife to be a woman that other men don't desire....But every man wants his wife to be a woman that other men don't get."
Intertwined in the lives of the characters (Ross, Demelza, George, Elizabeth, Drake, Sam, Dwight, Caroline, Morwenna, Osborne) is the ongoing Napoleonic war and civil unrest in England among the poor. The feud/competition between Ross and George continues and compels both men to take actions to try to best the other.
I'm counting this book in the category "A book of poems" in my 26 book challenge (http://burns-familyblog.blogspot.com/... not strictly a book OF poems, it is a book WITH poems that Hugh Armitage writes to Demelza.
The author includes many moments of introspection and deep thoughts in this novel. From Hugh: "By giving love you do not diminish it. Love only adds to itself, it never destroys. Tenderness is not like money; the more you give to one the more you have for others." From Ross: "No man wants his wife to be a woman that other men don't desire....But every man wants his wife to be a woman that other men don't get."
Intertwined in the lives of the characters (Ross, Demelza, George, Elizabeth, Drake, Sam, Dwight, Caroline, Morwenna, Osborne) is the ongoing Napoleonic war and civil unrest in England among the poor. The feud/competition between Ross and George continues and compels both men to take actions to try to best the other.
I'm counting this book in the category "A book of poems" in my 26 book challenge (http://burns-familyblog.blogspot.com/... not strictly a book OF poems, it is a book WITH poems that Hugh Armitage writes to Demelza.
February 3, 2017
I would like to file a complaint with...I dunno...the FCC? THE NEXT BOOK ISN'T ON AUDIBLE. I'm going to have to READ it with my EYES. Also, I may have to wait a hot minute because the full collector's set I ordered is coming from across the pond. Je regrette rien!
(PS - This one gets three stars because I don't believe a damn word of Demelza's story line.
(PS - This one gets three stars because I don't believe a damn word of Demelza's story line.
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