After the death of her mother, Mary Yellan goes to live with her Aunt Patience and Uncle Joss Merlyn at Jamaica Inn on Bodmin Moor. The isolation and wildness of the moor are so intertwined with the plotlines of fear, murder, theft, wrecking and intrigue you can feel the wind whipping around you as you read. When published this novel sold more copies in the first three months than her first three novels altogether and it is easy to see why this is such an enduring book. Dark, mysterious and thoroughly absorbing.
March 2010 Guest Editor Susan Fletcher on Jamaica Inn...
For all its melodrama, cliches and romance, I will always have a secret love of this book. I was in my early teens when I found it, and felt utterly transported from my bedroom in the Midlands to the rainy wilderness of Bodmin Moor. No other book had done that before, and I was deeply impressed that words could provide such a complete and tangible other world. I devoured the romance. I wanted to be Mary Yellan, trapped in her room, with Jem the handsome horse thief breaking the glass to be with her... Too wonderful for words! For all its overblown language and predictability, I remain a fan - and I know that it spurred on my own writing. I owe it a lot, I think.
| Genres: |
Classic fiction: general and literary Classic crime and mystery fiction Historical romance Narrative theme: Death, grief, loss Family Drama Thriller and Suspense |
