Winston Graham (1908–2003)

This volume, the eleventh in the series, is a sword that twists in your heart. Set in the last days of Bonaparte’s reign, it captures all the tension and fear that war can produce when it spills over into and affects the lives of so many people in so many countries. On a personal level for Graham's characters, it highlights all the missteps that await everyone and can wreak havoc in a heart and a life.

Graham continues to follow the second generation, but he does so without losing touch show more with the first. We see Demelza and Ross dealing with all the pressures, hopes and heartaches that come with having grown children and watching them feel their own ways into the future. My mother always said it was much harder having grown children than having small ones. When they are small we fear they will hurt themselves, but most of the perils are within our control. When they are grown, all the perils and choices are their own, and we often watch with a heavy heart as they seem to make all the wrong choices we have warned them against.

I will not reveal any of the plot of this book, as I have tried to reveal nothing of the specifics in any of the previous ten. I will say that I closed it with a broken heart, that mirrored the hearts of so many of the characters I have come to love. My time with the Poldarks is rapidly coming to an end and I am going to miss them. I have grown to genuinely love these very human individuals, who display all that is wonderful in humanity and all that is flawed. Winston Graham has an ability to see into the soul and not once in all these pages has he lost the thread of the story, made a character do something “out of character”, or written a superfluous word. That is approximately 5500 pages of excellent storytelling so far, and that is quite an accomplishment.

I want to thank my reading companion, Lori, who has traveled this road with me, step by step, and has made a pleasurable reading experience all the more so for being there to share it with me.

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Demelza, the second book in the Poldark series, is what second books should be, even better than the first. The story builds to a crescendo, and even though I knew from watching the TV series exactly what was in store, I was glued to every page and full of emotion by the end.

What I love the most about this story is that every character is fully developed and very real. No one is always right, no one always wrong. They do things without fully understanding the consequences of their actions; show more they endeavor to right things and frequently make them worse; they love and hate--and sometimes both emotions are thrown at the same individual. There are complicated family relationships (and who doesn’t have those?) and there is jealousy and greed and every other aspect of being human and fallible.

I am not one who generally reads a series. I seldom want to commit that kind of time and energy to one story, and I fear that, like a TV show that goes on too long, the author will begin to short change his audience because he should have closed out a story that he is milking along. If the second book of this series is any indicator, I will be glad that I made an exception in this case. show less

The Poldark novels are always a joy to come back to. All the drama and community of a soap opera, but with believable characters; more romance than anything turned out by Harlequin or Mills and Boon, portraying passion and comfort, heroism and humanity, in equal measure; and a host of lively personalities who will quickly and firmly win the following of every reader. The only difficulty is tackling all twelve novels in the series at once - this time, I aim to succeed!

Following on from Ross' show more marriage to Demelza in the first book, Demelza opens with the birth of the Poldarks' first child in 1789. They seem happy together, with Demelza adjusting to her new place in society, and Ross beginning to appreciate his wife's vivacity and open nature. The title character is but one narrative thread, however, weaving into the lives of the gentry and mining communities of west Cornwall. Verity and her lost love are reunited, Ross risks all in a speculative business venture, Jinny Carter faces further hardship, Mark Daniel and his wayward new wife supply the scandal, and tragedy strikes at the heart of Nampara. There are even two shipwrecks thrown in for good measure!

And in the rare moments of calm, Winston Graham's emotive writing fits every mood from wry humour (Jud and Francis) to black misery (the final chapters). Graham also paints a truly evocative, living portrait of the Cornish landscape, so that even land-locked readers like myself can hear the waves crashing in the cove and taste the salt on the air! show less

kay - it's obvious I'm hooked on this series, since I SHOULD be reading three or four other titles for library /patron work, but instead I'm devouring the Ross Poldark series. *sigh* But Graham as a masterful storyteller does not fail to satisfy again although Warleggan, with the eponymous title, hints at which character's in the ascendancy in this part of the series!! - Still Graham continues to tell the fortunes of all the characters from the previous books, with great sympathy for the show more complexity of each of them, and their struggles for success, love, and duty, along with a historical/economic background of England in the late 18th century, and a careful plotting of scenes which makes turning to the next chapter irresistible. show less