A veteran of the Revolutionary War, Captain Ross
Poldark returns home with the defeated British troops only to learn that the
woman he loves is engaged to marry his cousin, his father has died, and his
small estate is in disarray. Ross
decides to take control of his inheritance and bring his estate back into
working order. His disregard for the
social standards of the day, leads to conflict amongst his neighbors and
friends, but Ross has a moral standard of his own. He believes in hard work, true love, and
helping out his fellow man. Ross Poldark
is an intriguing man to read about and an exciting novel to read. The cast of characters and unique story make
for an enticing read.
I absolutely loved the setting of Ross Poldark,
rugged Cornwall in the copper mining district.
The Poldark family’s fortunes are from copper mining, but the copper
mines on Ross Poldark’s land have long since closed. I went to college in the
Upper Peninsula of Michigan at Michigan Technological University in
Houghton. This college started as a
mining college for copper miners. Copper
was king in the late 1800’s and many of the most highly paid copper miners that
were highly sought after were experienced miners from Cornwall. They brought with them a bit of their customs,
including eating pasties for lunch. My
own German ancestors immigrated to Houghton as part of the boom. Although they owned a bar and made their
profits off of selling alcohol to the miners.
One of my favorite classes in college was Copper Country History and
I’ve been on many a copper mine tour.
When I started reading Ross Poldark and discovered that there were
copper mines to be discussed, I was overjoyed.
Ross Poldark decides that perhaps he could reopen one of his mines which
would not only help him, but many of the families living on his land.
I really wanted to see if one of my favorite foods,
the Cornish pasty would make an appearance in the book, and much to my delight,
it did on page 135. “It was just passing
the time o’day, as you might say, till Reuben seized his pasty and ran off with
un. Stealing a pasty from a boy
often!” I love how stealing a pasty is a
criminal offence.
One note is I had a question on a bit of the
history. An old man states, “When I was
on Lake Superior in ’69, when I was thur ‘specting for copper, there was a
store that sold stuff as’d take the skin off your ‘and – “ This would be 1769 to fit the timeline of the
novel, and I don’t know that the British were prospecting for copper at the
time. The copper rush wasn’t until the
1800’s after Michigan State geologist, Douglas Houghton, “discovered” the
copper and published his results. The
copper had been mined by Native Americans previously and Alexander Henry, a
member of the British military, had seen copper in the Upper Peninsula on his
explorations in the 1700’s, but I hadn’t heard of any prospecting. Has anyone else and this is a bit of Copper Country
history that I missed?
I also enjoyed how the book takes a hard look at
social mores. Society likes to gossip
about Ross Poldark and believe the worst of him even when it’s not true. There were many times that people would make
an assumption about Ross and condemn him only to discuss how they had done
something like that in their youth or had their own problems with women,
alcohol, and gambling. The hypocrisy of
it all was humorous. I loved how Ross
couldn’t care less on what people thought of him. One line I love about the hypocrisy was as
follows: “It’s the way of the world, my
dear. A gentleman may get drunk so long
as he carries his drink decent, or slips beneath the table with it. But when a man has been sent to prison for
what Blamey did, then the world is not at all prepared to forgive and forget,
despite the religion is prescribes to.”
Winston Graham has wonderful descriptive language in
the book and a sense of romance beneath the adventure. One of my favorite quotes was of Ross viewing
Elizabeth at her wedding, “Elizabeth’s veil of old lace blew in billows about
her figure making her seem unsubstantial and ethereal; she might have been one
of the smaller clouds that had lost its way and been caught up in the human
procession.”
I also liked this quote from Ross to Elizabeth: “It isn’t very pretty to have been made a
fool of by one’s own feelings,” he said.
“To take childish promises and build a - a castle of them.”
I have been enjoying Poldark on Masterpiece theatre
and the series does a wonderful job of bringing the book to life. It is very true to the book. I love that these new Sourcebook versions of
the books in the series have pictures of the characters from the series on the
cover. I also thought the group reading
guide at the end had some great questions for discussion.
Overall, Ross Poldark is an excellent book full of
romance, adventure, and accurate depictions of the fallibilities of the human
race. I loved it and discovering a great
new series.
Book Source:
Review copy from Sourcebooks as part of the Poldark Tour. Thank-you for putting this together Laurel
Ann!
GIVEAWAY DETAILS:
Grand
Giveaway Contest
Win One
of Three Fabulous Prizes
In
celebration of the re-release of Ross
Poldark and Demelza, Sourcebooks
Landmark is offering three chances to win copies of the books or a grand prize,
an Anglophile-themed gift package.
Two
lucky winners will each receive one trade paperback copy of Ross Poldark and Demelza, and one grand prize winner will receive a prize package
containing the following items:
(2
) Old Britain Castles Pink Pottery Mugs by Johnson Brothers
(1)
Twelve-inch Old Britain Castles Pink Pottery Plater by Johnson Brothersr
(1)
London Telephone Box Tin of Ahmad English Breakfast Tea
(1)
Jar of Mrs. Bridges Marmalade
(1)
Package of Duchy Originals Organic Oaten Biscuits
(2)
Packets of Blue Boy Cornflower Seeds by Renee's Garden Heirloom (1) Trade
Paperback Copy of Ross Poldark & Demelza, by Winston Graham
To
enter the giveaway contest simply leave a comment on any or all of the blog
stops on the Ross Poldark Blog Tour starting July 06, 2015 through 11:59 pm PT,
August 10, 2015. Winners will be drawn at random from all of the entrants and
announced on the Buzz at Sourcebooks blog on August 13, 2015. Winners have
until August 20, 2015 to claim their prize. The giveaway contest is open to US residents
and the prizes will be shipped to US addresses. Good luck to all!
THE ROSS POLDARK BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE:
Splendid review! I am enjoying the series and can't wait to read the books.
ReplyDeleteI love the review the drama is so good i watch every sunday and i have the pbs video denise smith
ReplyDeleteGreat thoughts! So cool that you had the background knowledge about copper mining going into it too. I'm really enjoying the new TV series on Masterpiece and am hoping to read the books soon too! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review. An awesome giveaway. Would love to read these books.
ReplyDeleteCarol L
Lucky4750 (at) aol (dot) com
I'm still smiling about stealing of the Pasty being a criminal offense..
ReplyDeletedkstevensne AToutlookDoTCoM
Excellent review! Sounds like my kind of series :)
ReplyDeleteExcellent review! It has enticed me to read this series. And perhaps I will be able to find it on TV. :)
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to watching the miniseries. I, unfortunately missed the first episode as I was camping and so am waiting to watch it from the first episode.
ReplyDeleteExcellent review. I loved how the copper mining had such a personal connection to you. Everything I know about copper mining, I've learned from Poldark. FYI--the second book Demelza, which I've just started, goes into the economics of it even more.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your quotes--Winston Graham really did paint glorious pictures. So happy that his books are finding new readers with the advent of the BBC series--too good to be forgotten!
I love pasties and make them often in the winter. And yes, stealing one should be a criminal event! Interesting how the Rueben story was completely left out of the mini-series.
Laura, thank you for this wonderful review and giveaway. I am glad you are enjoying the Poldark series, and will keep it in mind for the future.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWonderful giveaway! I love the PBS series and can't wait to read the books. :)
ReplyDeleteLoving this series and would love to read the books as well. Thank you for hosting in the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteRead the books (the first 7, that is) ages ago, and am looking forwrd to re-reading. The rest of the series was hard to find in the US - sure hope that they are re-issued.
ReplyDeleteThe Cornish pasties used to have meat on one end and pie filling on the other so that the miners could eat both dinner and dessert (the English love their desserts). Winston Graham's prose is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteAnn
Loving this Poldark! Have read the first two books on my Kindle but would love to have printed copies! Thank you for the giveaway opportunity!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your very insightful review. I can't wait to read this series!
ReplyDeleteIs there supposed to be a new blog entry for today's stop on the blog tour? Or is this a repeat of July 12th? Either way, thank you for participating in the blog tour. I have not read the books yet but would love to win the giveaway and read all of the Winston Graham Poldark books.
ReplyDeleteYes, there is a new entry for today which I did not get up until 11 AM. I apologize, but had several appointments for kids and animals that I was running to this morning. Just look at the top of the posts for the date. I actually have three different posts for this tour on three different dates as listed.
ReplyDeleteThe cornish pastry sounds delicious. :) Thanks for the giveaway.
ReplyDeletecaliwillette(at)gmail(dot)com
Awesome show im sooo addicted! Cant wait to read this books, they seem just as addicting as the show! Thanks for posting this great giveaway opportunity!
ReplyDeleteHi, I love the Poldark series. Has to be one of my all time favorites. Thank you for the opportunity Maureen.
ReplyDeletemy daughter & I love Sunday nights watching PBS, this show is amazing and we look forward to next season-it can't come soon enough!
ReplyDeleteThank-you for all of the great comments sharing the love for the Poldark series!
ReplyDelete