This isnt just about one man’s struggle against the indignities of a changing world, and how he adapts or dies (but it is also about that). These books are a social history (MY FAVORITE KIND) of the era in Cornish history, but with a healthy helping of soap opera to keep it fun. Happily, Graham can, and he peppers things enough with hints of who knows what (“Hey, you spend a bunch of time in Europe, what’s the feeling there about France and this whole putting the king in prison thing?” “I just go to Lisbon and back, I really don’t spend time in Europe as a whole, but everyone there is super nervous”) (paraphrased). The world is changing very fast, and for the chracters in Poldark, they can’t really see the bigger picture. They just ended a war that they lost (badly, with a big ol’ can of whoopass at Yorktown!) and everyone is deeply concerned about the revolution that’s happening in France and how far that violence will spread. For Britain itself, the country has been under Hanover rule for only 70 years, and there are rumblings of Jacobian sentiment still quietly rumbling under the surface. The smuggling industry (and don’t kid yourself, it was an industry) is on the cusp of change as the tax officials start getting more serious about shutting down the free trade. There’s a lot of tension between the landed gentry that’s running out of money, and the middle class that’s suddenly got a lot of it.
It’s a period of massive change happening in Cornwall- the mining industry (as it was) is dying, helped along by unscrupulous business practices, and the people who are the first victims are, as always, the working poor. The books all touch on class differences, romance, mine procedures and politics, and a whole metric buttload of angst. His father is dead, his intended is days away from marrying his cousin, his estate is essentially in ruins, and he doesn’t have much in the way of prospects. If you didn’t follow the TV series ( and I loved everything about it so you should watch it), the series is set in Cornwall, starting in 1783, when Ross Poldark comes home to Cornwall from the Revolutionary War to find his life a complete disaster. We reviewed the tv series as it aired in the US, and PBS was kind enough to send me the first two books in the series, which is what the first season of the TV show was adapted from. OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS SERIES SO MUCH I LITERALLY CANNOT EVEN.
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