Poldark Group Read: April (Warleggan)

April appears to be here already, so it's time to start reading Warleggan, the fourth book in the Poldark saga! Are you still enjoying the series? What do you think so far of the Warleggans, particularly George? They do seem antagonistic to Ross and his family, but are they really out-and-out villains? For me, the jury's still out...I'm interested to see what happens in this installment. Please feel free to post thoughts, questions, and reviews below!

Here's my cover!

Sorry it's missing a piece, but that's my book. :)

If you want to add it to the OP, just add the brackets:

img src="http://pics.cdn.librarything.com/picsizes/07/e2/07e283f915adf10597669536651434f414f4141.jpg"

George is such a insecure bully, the character you love to hate. He was portrayed so beautifully by Ralph Bates in the original BBC production, but is given more depth in the books.

Trivia: this book was originally titled The Last Gamble.

I'm about 50 pages in and I love it so far. No surprise.

Loved my reread. George is a stinker, but not a caricature.

Review sans spoilers, below:

Warleggan by Winston Graham

Francis' partnership with Ross in the mine continues to bring the cousins closer, though it does little to pay their creditors, including the arrogant George Warleggan. Dwight and Caroline's romance blossoms, but with unexpected consequences, while an impulsive act threatens to sever Ross' ties to his wife Demelza.

I love how the author draws deep into his characters, showing their flawed, human sides, tackling their complicated personal relationships in a way that is so seldom found in novels. What a pleasure it has been for me, reading (and rereading) the stories of these fictional yet oh-so-real families in late 1700's Cornwall.

>4 fuzzi: You're making me more eager to read it! I'm planning to start Warleggan tonight.

>4 fuzzi: , >5 christina_reads: I almost finished Warleggan last night but my eyes would not stay open. Wow. That "impulsive act" (as fuzzi called it) is a doozie!

>6 VictoriaPL: one of the things that I love about the Poldark series is the people are real people, with inner thoughts, pride, shame, just ordinary people. They are as prone to doing wrong, or not thinking before acting upon impulse, as any of us.

>5 christina_reads: hahaha! That's why I write reviews as I do: to get people to want to read the book (or not, if it's a stinker).

>7 fuzzi: oh, I agree!

I'm picking up Warleggan tonight, finding this series quite captivating. Love the commonfolk. Tedn good Tedn right!

>9 avatiakh: pfft, yer ded!

>10 fuzzi: very apt.

Very happy to report that I finished Warleggan just now so am finally up to date. I'm obviously hooked on the series and can't wait to pick up The Black Moon.

I finished Warleggan last night, and all I can say is WTF ROSS?! He cheats on Demelza and basically rapes Elizabeth! I am SO MAD at him right now, and I can't believe Demelza has actually forgiven him already! And now Elizabeth is pregnant, and Ross could totally be the father...gee, I wonder if *that* will come back to haunt anyone later. I am definitely hooked on this series now -- must find out what will happen next!

>11 avatiakh: >12 christina_reads: I love it, getting others hooked on something I love.

The characters in the Poldark series are like people we know, they are not caricatures...they love, and hate, they can be stubborn or unreasonable, and yes, they do dumb things (to put it mildly!).

We're 1/3 through the series, woo!

>12 christina_reads: That incident is the reason I couldn't watch much of Season 2! Couldn't bear to see Aidan Turner portraying a character who did that :(

>13 fuzzi: Certainly, the characters' flaws are part of what makes them so compelling. But also very frustrating at times! :)

>14 rabbitprincess: Yeah, it's a big problem. I haven't finished season 2 of Poldark yet, and I'll be interested to see how they handle certain events from the book.

Oh! Forgot to mention, the May thread for The Black Moon is up! http://www.librarything.com/topic/256304

>15 christina_reads: I stopped watching before the events of Warleggan because I knew that I wanted to read the books first. But my DVR has been faithfully recording them, so at some point I can binge and catch up.

>17 VictoriaPL: binge! Binge! Woo!

>18 fuzzi: LOL.