Jeremy Poldark: A Novel of Cornwall, 1790-1791

Jeremy Poldark, written in 1950 and the third novel in the worldwide best selling Poldark saga, starts off with Ross suffering the consequences of actions undertaken at the dark conclusion of the last Poldark novel, Demelza. Captain Poldark, reeling from the tragic death of a loved-one, had vented his grief, and resentment of the oppressive London government, by inciting impoverished locals to salvage the material contents of a ship run aground in a storm: an act for which British law proscribes either death by hanging or lifelong banishment to a penal colony. Branded, quite rightly it happens, a ringleader of the violent clash at the wreck-site, the ever-daring Ross Poldark is arrested and charged with this capital crime. Overjoyed at his hated rival's circumstances, the cold-natured banker George Warleggan, covertly prints up and distributes a pamphlet which contains a number of highly sensationalized accounts of recent events in Poldark's life, in hopes of scandalizing Cornish society and further damning a man he has long despised. The trial of Captain Ross Poldark does occur, in the midst of Demelza's involvement on her husband's behalf no less, and the legal proceedings occupy a significant portion of this visit to the Poldark world. Ultimately, things go right, or at least as we wish them to, and the story pushes ahead. The world at the time of this third novel, 1790-1791, mirrors our own in certain key ways. England is in the grip of national paranoia based in fear of the forces of revolution which have overthrown the French monarchy. Invasion from the continent seems likely, and in the face of this, the English government cracks down on the civil liberties of its citizens, institutes covert surveillance projects that track peoples all across the nation, and everywhere a militant undercurrent of unease and conservative nationalism betrays a societal expectation of harm from abroad. Into this setting, Jeremy Poldark, Ross and Demelza's first son, is born. His birth is seen by the Poldarks as a chance for a happy new beginning after so much recent turmoil. The family's friend, Dr. Enys, is perhaps more fully realized in this novel than any other in the series, and here matures from a womanizing young Londoner to a social activist. However, the impact of his feelings for a young woman of the gentry derails his opportunity to do good works among the poor. And just when things were looking brighter for the residents of Nampara, whose livelihoods center around the ancient tin and copper mines, financial disaster looms, ending this book on a note of foreboding.