The Miller's Dance

I love the Poldark series and agree with much of what the previous reviewer has written but there are two reasons I've given it four stars instead of five. One is I found it difficult to understand why none of the Poldarks realized what a dispicable person Stephen was or when they got an inkling or more of it, particularly in the case of Jeremy, it didn't really seem to bother them all that much. No matter how much freedom Ross and Demelza wanted to give their children would the Ross of old really not care all that much if she married this piece of trash? They all seem a bit dimwitted about this and dimwitted is so out of character for these people. The second reason is that the Demelza character has deteriorated into almost a caricature of herself. She's actually a bit disturbing at times, almost exhibiting signs of early senility. Such a shame as this character was brilliant in the first four books, though somewhat less so in the fifth, sixth, and seventh. A real loss and the obsession with looking fat was SO annoying! She was pregnant for goodness sake! It wasn't as though she'd turned into a glutton and became morbidly obese. I can't see the Demelza of old acting this way over a normal part of pregnancy. Too shallow by far for this great character.