Poldark novels Part XI

Selina is angry that Valentine has been unfaithful and that he's spending her fortune foolishly. She leaves him after Agneta disappears and takes their son young George. Valentine is angry and determined to get the child back, he lives wildly with male friends and invites whores to the house. Isabella goes on with her singing studies and goes to France to take part in an opera. While she is away, the serial killers comes to Nampara where Demelza is alone, and confesses to her. It is Paul Kellow, a local gentleman who was with Jeremy and Stephen Carrington when they robbed the bank property. He hates women and he killed Agneta and the other girls. Ross returns unexpectedly, in time to save his wife. Valentine is increasingly depressed and buys a large ape from a man in a sea port, and takes him home. The servants are terrified of the animal but he is a companion to Valentine. Ross continues to feel a bit sorry for Valentine in spite of his disapproval of the young man's whoring, but the locals still are angry with him because of his arrogance and his wild living. Ben Carter son of Ross's old friend, Jim Carter, is helping to manage the mine since Jeremy's death. He has always been in love with Clowance but she did not return his feelings. However Ben has now met Esther Carne, the daughter of one of Demelza's miner brothers, who has taken up a post as a nursemaid to Geoffrey Poldark's baby at Trenwith. Geoffrey has returned from the wars, after several years and is now managing his estate and studying law, and he has brought home a Spanish wife Amadora. Ben falls in love with Esther and they become engaged with Demelza's encouragement. Esther upsets Jinny, Ben's Methodist mother by getting interested in Amadora's religon and going to a Catholic church with her but the couple get married. Isabella returns from France where she has performed in an opera, and comes home to Cornwall for a holiday, but she becomes ill. She has diptheria which killed her sister Julia many years before and her illness is very serious. Dwight Enys nurses her with help from Clowance. While Bella is recovering, Edward Fitzmaurice proposes to Clowance and she decides to accept him.

Poldark Novels X

Cuby Poldark, Jeremy's widow, meets a young man, Philip Prideaux who has left the army... Clowance meets a former suitor of hers, Lord Edward Fitzmaurice, who is a younger son of a duke. He had asked her to marry him a few years earlier and now he renews his courtship. Clowance is unsure of her feelings having been so deceived by Stephen.... but she begins to consider him as a husband. He is well off enough to support her but he's not the heir to a title. Philip Prideaux secures a goverment job and begins to investigate the deaths of the young women. They were all working class, but then Agneta Treneglos goes missing. She has been acting more strangely than usual in the past months, since Valentine broke off their affair. She keeps going to see him or to call on his wife, and Selina, who has now had a son by Valentine is furious. Valentine gets more angry with Agneta, and when she disappears he is aware that people are talking and saying that he is the killer of the poor handicapped girl and the other women. Her body is found and Valentine's guilt is freely talked about although he was in Ireland. He has bought some ships and is tyring to make a living but he is losing money and only makes a little money, smuggling.

Poldark Novels Part IX

Clowance is ambivalent about her husband's death. She feels some love for him, but she is shocked by his deceptions and lies, and tells Demelza that if she ever marries again, it will be for convenience and status. Demelza still grieves for Jeremy, and is glad that Ross stays home more nowadays, and she has her young son Harry who is still a baby. Valentine now married to Selina Pope is living nearby, and he is a little bored with his wife who is pregnant. Ross meets him one night, sneaking out of the house of John Treneglos, a local squire who has several daughters. He realises that Valentine is having an affair with Agneta, who has learning difficulties. He fears it will lead to problems, he is a little sorry for Valentine who has never had a happy home and he blames himself for raping Elizabeth, and causing the rift in her marriage. Demelza is a little jealous of his sympathy for Valentine but she believes it is because Harry is so young. By now, Dwight and Caroline have had 2 daughters who survived infancy, Sophie and Meliora and are happy. Drake having married Morwenna, has moved to Looe, to manage a boat building yard, and they have one daughter, Loveday. Isabella, the youngest Poldark daughter, has turned out to have a powerful voice and she meets a young man Christopher Havergal, who wants to marry her and to help her to a stage career. In the final Poldark novel, Bella Poldark we learn of her musical studies and life in Cornwall between 1818 and 1820. There is something of a crime wave in the country and more than 1 young woman is murdered. It looks like a serial killer....... M/F

Poldark VIII

George is furious when he learns of Valentine's marriage. Clowance marries Stephen Carrington, but she has doubts about his character at times. They move to Penryn where he begins a small shipping business. Jeremy tries to court Cuby but she is reluctant to marry him and he decides to join the army though he is not a militaristic young man. He keeps up his interest in engineering. He persuades Cuby to elope with him and they marry and he returns to his army posting. However, when Napoleon escapes from Elba, Jeremy is killed at Waterloo. Ross and Demelza are devastated, but slowly recover, and Cuby has a daughter, Noelle. Around the same time, Harriet, George's upper class wife, has twin daughters. George is shaken up as he knows he has little chance of having another son who will be more reliable than Valentine. Clowance finds that Stephen has kept secrets from her... that he was married and had a son as a young lad, and that his wife only died recently so its dubious if their marriage is legal. George learns that it is possible that Jeremy, Stephen and another local man, Paul Kellow, stole some money and valuables from his bank. He wants to take Stephen to court, but Harriet dissuades him. Stephen and Clowance have been friendly with Harriet, and one day, he engages in a riding contest with her and he is killed in a fall from his horse.

Poldark Novels Part VII

The next Poldark novel after THE ANGRY TIDE is set several years after Elizabeth's death and Ross and Demelza's children are now almost grown up. A young man is washed ashore near Nampara, and he turns out to be a sailor. He becomes friendly with the Poldarks and falls in love with Clowance. He comes from a poor background, and was reared by a foster family, before he went to sea. George Warleggan has grieved for a long time about Elizabeth, but he is now beginning to think of remarriage. Ross still feels guilty over his forcing Elizabeth to have sex, which caused the problems in her marriage and led to her death. but he and Demelza have grown closer over the years, and she has come to accept that he had a lingering love for Elizabeth but that she is his wife and love. Their 2 elder children Jeremy and Clowance are in their teens and they have another daughter Isabella. Demelza has grown and developed and is able to fit in with county society. Isabella has a talent for music, which she wants to develop. Geoffrey, Elizabeth's son by Francis Poldark, has joined the army and is fighting in the Peninsula. Valentine his half brother is a rather sinsister young man who does not get on with his possible father George. George wants to marry Valentine off to a gentry family, but the boy is difficult and reluctant to obey him. George is resentful that he has tried to secure a genteel wife and connexion with the upper classes for his son, yet Valentine barely shows him any respect. George courts an aristocratic widow, Lady Harriet Carter, and she agreeds to marry him because she is not very well off. Jeremy, the eldest surviving child, is now a young man who is interested in engineering and in developing machinery for use in the mine, and he wants to experiment with using machinery to travel on the roads. He falls in love with Cuby Trevanion, the daughter of a grand family, who have over extended themselves building a large castle... Cuby is devoted to her family and has agreed to marry a rich man if they want her to do so, so although she is attracted to Jeremy she snubs him. Demelza becomes pregnant again and has another son, Harry. However, George has been making plans for Valentine to marry Cuby, and to bring genteel Cornish blood into the family, but his rakish son has been having an affair with Selina Pope, the wife of an elderly businessman. Mr Pope catches him in bed with Selina and he collapses and dies. Soon after the old man's death, Valentine secretly marries Selina who has a fortune. So he tells George that he can't marry Cuby.. he's married already and his new wife will be able to support him.

Poldark VI

Elizabeth is unsure if she wants to take the risk of bringing on her labour prematurely, but George is being very unpleasant and she decides to do it. Meanwhile, Demelza goes home to Cornwall after the duel, because she is shocked coming from a working class background, at Ross's upper class code that believes that duelling is a necessary way of defending his wife's honour. Caroline defends Demelza to Ross and reminds him of his wife's different code of morals. When he returns to Cornwall, Elizabeth after a quarrel with George, takes the medicine to bring on her labour. Arthur, Rowella's husband becomes suspicious of her behaviour and finds that she is sleeping with Ossie, and he attacks the clergyman at night. Ossies' horse bolts and he is killed. Morwenna is free of her awful marriage, but when Drake Carne comes to see her, she tells him that she cannot marry him, because she is now repelled by sex. He tells her that he loves her, and he has broken off his engagement to a country girl, becuase he wants to marry her even if they do not have a sex life. Elizabeth goes into labour early, and has a daughter, Ursula. George is now convinced that she has a tendency to have her babies prematurely, and he welcomes his new child.. but the medicine she took causes gangrene. Her circulation is impaired and she is in pain. Dwight Enys is called to see her and he asks if she took any drugs before giving birth but she is so ill, he can't do anything for her. She dies soon after having the baby. George tells Ross that the 2 of them have brought her to a painful horrible death, by their jealousy.

Poldark novels Part V

Morwenna is aware of Rowella's affair with Ossie and it disgusts her, but it at least keep him from trying to have sex with her. Rowella marries the young librarian after Ossie has paid him some money, but as he is from a very poor family, her marriage pushes her out of county society. However, after a while Ossie toys with the idea of trying to force Morwenna again, but instead renews his affair with Rowella who has written to him. SHe is bored with her life in a small town and relative poverty, and she hopes Ossie will pay her something for her sexual services. Caroline's baby has been born with a heart defect and dies within a few months, and she goes to London to recover. Ross has become an MP though he is sceptical about politics but he hopes to do some good as a reformer. He takes Demelza with him to London on his next visit and she and Caroline enjoy the social life there. But Ross grows jealous when his pretty wife attracts the attention of a rakish MP, Monk Adderly and he ends up having a duel with him and killing him. Elizabeth has been worried because a chance jokey remark by her son Geoffrey has led to George's suspicions that Valentine is not his child being aroused again. She has become pregnant again. She had told Ross that George was very difficult when he had the idea in his head that Valenetine was not his son, and he suggests that if she gets pregnant again, she should make it appear that the baby comes prematurely so that George will think that she is susceptible to premature births. Elizabeth goes to an illegal doctor in London, and asks him for some medicine to bring on the birth a bit early. He warns her that it can be dangerous to do this but gives her the medicine.

Poldark Novels IV

Ross and Demelza have difficulties in their marriage, but they have another child, Clowance. Then Demelza, depressed at Ross' continuing feelings for Elizabeth, becomes infatuated with Hugh Armitage, a young Navy officer, and they have a brief affair. But Hugh dies and Ross tries to forgive his wife and tolerate her one infidelity. Meantime Dwight Enys, the doctor and Ross's close friend, has found a wife, the aristocratic and horsey Caroline Penvenen, and they have a daughter, Sarah. Morwenna tries to get over her feelings for Drake Carne but she grows to hate Osborne, her husband, who is unkind and bullying and who forces her to have sex which she hates. She and Ossie have a son, Conan and in desperation, Morwenna tells him that if he continues to force his sexual attentions on her, she will kill his son. He tries to see if he could put her away as a madwoman but as a clergyman, he cannot get a divorce. He is afraid of Morwenna's threat but he finds a temporary solution in an affair with her sister, Rowella who has moved in to help with the children. However Rowella then tells him she's pregnant and that if he pays her off, she will marry a young man, Arthur who has a post as a librarian but not much money.. and he will take the child off Ossie's hands.

Patrick Hamilton

Patrick Hamilton was a British writer who produced several novels which were turned into films. One of them was the Hitchcock thriller Rope and the Victorian thriller, Gaslight. He also wrote a trilogy of books about a serial killer, based loosely on Neville Heath, the protagonist is called Gorse.. and he likes to strangle women. THis was televised in the 1980s as The Charmer. He was born in Sussex in 1904, his parents were both writers, but not very successful. They were pretentious and snobbish, giving him a dislike of "proper" society. His father was an alcoholic and because of this, the family were not well off, and he had to leave his public school, giving him a sketchy education. He himself became an alcoholic in later life. One of his novels, Hangover Square, published in 1941, was about an alcoholic man George Bone and his hopeless love. He liked London and most of his works are set there, Dickens was an influence on him. He was part of the literary pub scene, and was more successful as a writer than his father had been though he has never achieved much critical sucess. Another novel is Twenty Thousand Streets under the Sky, which is set in London, and covers three characters whose lives are intertwined.. Bob is a barman in a pub. He falls in love with Jenny a young prostitute who sometimes visits the pub, and Ella, the barmaid who is rather plain and is in love with Bob but is courted by a fussy difficult older man. Hamilton's works are increasingly bleak as he grew older and drinking became more of a problem for him. The Charmer novels are about a very unattractive character and his vision of life seemed to become more unhappy and depressing which may account for his lack of success. He was sympathetic to Marxism as a younger man but became more sceptical of it as he grew older. He felt sympathy for the poor and hostility towards capitalism, but he began to dislike modern life more and more. Dickens was a big influence on him but he lacked Dickens' vitality as a writer. He died in his 50s, having been married twice. More to follow-

Poldark novels Part III

Ross is tried but vindicated, and he and Demelza have another baby, Jeremy. George and Elizabeth get married but before they marry, Ross visits Elizabeth and forces himself on her, to try and dissuade her from marrying George. He and Demelza come close to separation but Elizabeth goes ahead with the marriage and has a son Valentine who may be Ross's son. Elizabeth gets a cousin of hers, Morwenna to become governess to Geoffrey her son by Francis, and this girl and Drake Carne, Demelza's brother fall in love. However, George arranges a marriage for her to Osborne Whitworth, a local clergyman who has lost his wife and want another one to satisfy his carnal needs and look after his other children. Then George irritates the elderly Poldark aunt, Agatha who lives with him and Elizabeth. She is a cranky old lady who is fond of Ross, and she has been looking forward to her 100th birthday, but George who has always disliked her, find out that a mistake has been made and she is only 98. He tells her and tells her that they will have to cancel the party as she is not 100. In a rage, she tells him that Valentine is not his son, that he was not born prematurely - as George believed. She works herself up and dies. George is angry and upset. He has always been jealous of Ross and disliked the Poldarks, and he begins to ignore Valentine and to be unkind to Elizabeth.

Rough Music, a band story set in the USA

Rough Music is a long novella, about a country rock band. Its set in the late 1970s and is about an American band who are on the way up. The 2 lead singers Jeff Randles and Brandon, are both unfaithful husbands, and they try to make compromises between doing good work and making money..They used to be a bar band but are now enjoying some success on TV and at the Opry but they are always trying to make real music and they also want to help people. But the price of success and fame is a lot of touring and it means that they seek solace in sleeping around and taking drugs. Jeff Randles then finds that a one night stand has consequences. He and Brandon do their best to cope with married life, and being music stars, and travelling all the time. The novella is available on Amazon

Poldark Novels 2

Elizabeths marriage to Francis becomes unhappy- they have a son but Francis drinks and gambles and they are short of money. She begins to regret her marriage and there is still a bond between her and Ross. He is however increasingly drawn to Demelza and when she is 17, they sleep together. He marries her, in spite of their class differences. Demelza is pretty and lively and is gradually accepted by some of the local gentry, but Ross is often at odds with the Warleggans and he is not doing too well financially. He and Demelza have a daughter Julia, but there is tension at times between them because of Ross's lingering feelings for Elizabeth. The early Poldark novels detail Ross's quarrels with George Warleggan and his jealousy when Francis dies and George begins to pay court to Elizabeth. Julia, the baby dies of diptheria and Ross is arrested for alleged wrecking of a ship in the bay.

Poldark novels

I hope to blog about the Poldark novels, by Winston Graham. They cover Cornish history from the late 18th century to the end of George III's reign in 1820. Ross Poldark is a small squire whose father is a younger son. His father owns a small estate with a couple of mines on it, and he lost his wife as a young woman. He took to leading a wild drunken life, and Ross, his only surviving son ended up by joining the army. He has some of his fathers wild streak but he has a social conscience. He went to school with his cousin Francis a more gentle boy who is the heir to the family's bigger estate, Trenwith. The Poldarks dont get on with the Warleggans, who live nearby, and who are nouveau riche, having made a fortune in banking and business. George Warleggan feels uneasy with the Cornish gentry, as he is conscious of his lower origins. He is not popular in county society because he is a ruthless businessman. Ross returns to Nampara from the American wars, and learns that his father has died and his house is being run by the Paynters,a drunken pair of servants who have neglected it. He also learns that his fiancee, Elizabeth, a beautiful girl from a very genteel family, thought that he was dead and has now become engaged to his cousin Francis. Francis has some of the family failings, he is careless with money and he drinks, but he's not as wild as Ross was, and Elizabeth finds him more congenial. She is upset to find that Ross is back and he is jealous and angry, but she tells him she is going to marry his cousin. Ross thinks of throwing out Jud and Prudie, the servants but keeps them, and begins to try to bring his estate into order, but he also becomes embroiled in arguments with the Warleggans, who are harsh employers and who are determined to become the richest family in the area. He meets a new friend, Dwight Enys, a young newly trained doctor who wants to work for the poor, and he employs him to look after the miners. He then rescues a girl whon he meets at a local fair, she is running away from her drunken violent father, and has been looking after her younger brothers from childhood. He takes her in as a servant and begins to care for her.

Rough Music By Nadine Sutton, Novella on Amazon

Rough Music is a long novella, about a country rock band. Its set in the late 1970s and is about an American band who are on the way up. The 2 lead singers Jeff Randles and Brandon, are both unfaithful husbands, and they try to make compromises between doing good work and making money..They used to be a bar band but are now enjoying some success on TV and at the Opry but they are always trying to make real music and they also want to help people. But the price of success and fame is a lot of touring and it means that they seek solace in sleeping around and taking drugs. Jeff Randles then finds that a one night stand has consequences. He and Brandon do their best to cope with married life, and being music stars, and travelling all the time. The novella is available on Amazon

Murder most Royal

I am reading Murder Most Royal by Jean Plaidy, a novel about Anne Boleyn and her cousin Catherine Howard. It is based on older research so it is not as accurate as it might be and Plaidy is inclined to over praise both Anne and Catherine. She wrote a later work called the Lady in the Tower, which was based on recent books on Boleyn and its more realistic. Hope to blog about these books later on.

Maura Laverty

Maura wrote several books and was a journalist. She was also famous for writing Tolka Row, the first soap opera on Irish Televsion, about a working class family. She was an agony aunt and was the chief breadwinner in her household, since her husband James Laverty, was not good at making money. Her marriage to him ended in separation but she continued to earn a living with her writing. Like Delia Scully she wss one of a large family, and was brought up partly by her grandmother. The earlier novel, Never No More, is about Delia's life in the Bog of Allen, in the care of her grandmother. The book is rather sentimental, its about Ireland in the 1910s and 20s, and Delia's grandmother is a rather idealised figure. But its a warm memoir of a past time. Afterwards Maura went to Spain as a governess but like Delia she gave it up and became a secretary to the socialite and writer Princess Bibesco. Then she married and had children. She was distressed when some of her works were banned in Ireland by a rigid censorship. She was a conventional woman and while not a rigid Catholic, she found it upsetting that books which were admired by Catholic associations in America, were banned in her own country. I prefer No More than Human about the young adult Delia, to the more sentimental Never No More.

No More than Human Part III

Delia enjoys office work much more than governess or teaching English, and when she has had a few months experience, she gets better paid jobs. She begins to go out with Siemen, who is very interested in her and somewhat jealous. She gets a job in a bank but changes because he fears her boss is trying to make love to her, and she goes on with her writing. She moves into a new home with a kindly Spanish couple who run a shop but while she is there, she gets ill. She is very ill and when she recovers, Siemen suggests they get married and have a holiday, but Delia says she would like too go home to Ireland. She has several siblings but has not seen much of them because her mother was unable to look after them all when she was widowed, and Delia went to her grandmother who adored her. She goes back to Ireland, but meets Michael, her pen friend and they realise that they are in love. She never goes back to Spain, but Siemen Marries Romana, one of their Spanish friends.

No More than Human By Maura Laverty Part II

Delia, like Maura Laverty, was a budding writer and began to write poems and stories which she sent to Irish magazines. She got a fan letter from an Irish man who worked as a horse trainer and she and he began to write to each other. Through her Spanish friends she meets Siemen a young Hungarian, who asks her out, but at the same time she meets up again with Rafael, a young Spanihs man who is very good looking and charming. She starts to go out with him, though her friends warns her that a well to do Spanish man wont marry a penniless Irish girl. However Delia is in love and happy and Rafael keeps taking her out and talking about them having a little house. Then after some time, they are in a restaurant and he has to hurry her out because he sees his mother and sister there. He tells her that he cannot marry her, its understood that he will marry another girl....Delia is shocked and upset and angry, and tells him she will not be his mistress, and she walks out. She recovers from her unhappiness, but she is worried about money and realises that she needs to get a new job. She gets an offer of a governess job, and travels for the interview, however she finds when she gets there that her new employer is a midlde aged married man who wants a mistress cum secretary, not a governess. She refuses but he tells her callously that she should have known what he was offering, and refuses to pay her expenses. She meets his boss, an Irish American, who also tells her that she should not have been so foolish and she lashes out at him, telling him that she did not know what she was being expected to do. Embarrassed, he apologises and asks her what she really would like to do, and she says she has been studying book keeping and typing and shorthand, but she has no experience in office jobs. He suggests that he gives her a job for a few months, which will give her the experience but warns her he can't pay much. Delighted, she accepts.

No More than Human by Maura Laverty Part 1

No more Than Human is a novel by Maura Laverty, set in Spain, in the 1920s. Delia Scully, the heroine is based on Maura herself who also went to Spain as a girl to be a governess. It was quite common for middle class Irish girls at that time, to go to Spain which was a Catholic country, and they could earn a living. Delias grandmother, who brought her up, tried to give her a good education but Delia was not academic, and when her grandmother died she was only 17 and there was no money. Her friends arranged a job in Spain and she set out looking for adventure. Delia is a warm friendly girl who throws herself into life but she soon finds that being a governess in Spain is not much fun. SHe likes the children and gets on with the servants but realises that governesses are usually looked down on by their Spanish employers and also by the English colony who have jobs in Spain. There were many English engineers and the like in the country, but they and their wives looked down on Irish girls and they were Protestants. Delia soon made friends with other women in similar jobs but she soon became fed up with her domineering employer and then she moved to another job. However, that job ended when she dressed in a flamboyant bathing suit. Delia realises that she hates the servitude of governessing, and decides to hire herself out as a part time chaperone and English tutor. However, she finds it very hard to make even a bare living at this job. She likes living in lodgings and makes friends with various English and Spanish people including Luis, a Theosophist and Liberal.

Beds and Blue Jeans by Nadine Sutton

This is a long story available on Amazon. It is set in Nashville in the recent Past, just a few years ago. Its a tale of a young singer who is trying to make it in the music business, in Nashville and how he moves from bed to bed and bar to bar, looking for love. Sam is living with a girl who has had his baby, but he is an attractive young man who appeals to women. He finds his girlfriend boring but tries to keep up their relationship, for the sake of their baby. He loves his work, and in time he and his lady start to build up a stable marriage. His girlfriend matures and they reach a muted happy ending. Read it on Amazon.

Beloved Exile By Parke Godwiin

This is the second novel in the Arthurian trilogy by Park Godwin. It tells the story of Guenevere after the death of Arthur. She tries to rule as Empress but is captured in war and ends up as a slave in a Saxon household. She learns about the Saxons and their more democratic farming based culture, and learns to appreciate their good qualities. Later, she is rescued and goes to the Eastern Empire in Constantinople, returning to Britian in old age.

Novella by Nadine Sutton, Beds and Blue Jeans

This is a long story available on Amazon. It is set in Nashville a few years ago. Its a tale of a young singer who is trying to make it in the music business, in Nashville and how he moves from bed to bed and bar to bar, looking for love. Sam is living with a girl who has had his baby, but he is an attractive young man who appeals to women. He finds his girlfriend boring but tries to keep up their relationship, for the sake of their baby. He loves his work, and in time he and his lady start to build up a stable marriage.

Rough Music, a story set in America by Nadine Sutton

Rough Music is a long novella, about a country rock band. Its set in the late 1970s and is about an American band who are on the way up. The 2 lead singers Jeff Randles and Brandon, are both unfaithful husbands, and they try to make compromises between doing good work and making money..They used to be a bar band but are now enjoying some success on TV and at the Opry but they are always trying to make real music and they also want to help people. But the price of success and fame is a lot of touring and it means that they seek solace in sleeping around and taking drugs. Jeff Randles then finds that a one night stand has consequences. He and Brandon do their best to cope with married life, and being music stars, and travelling all the time. The novella is available on Amazon