"Save a stranger from the sea and he will turn your enemy." This particular quote from the book reminded me of Hugh Armitage. Even though Hugh wasn't saved by Ross from the sea but from France (which is across the sea) he did appear as a potential danger to Ross and Demelza's marriage. We are now left to see what Stephen Carrington will do regarding the enemy part of the quote .

In this book, Ross is away in Portugal, as a part of the Wellington army where he meets (now grown-up) Geoffrey Charles with who he discusses the death of a woman they both loved dearly- Elizabeth Warleggan- a mother of Geoffrey Charles and Ross's first love. They mention the impact her death had on all of them, especially on George who had an extreme time getting over it. In this book, the author ties the loose ends, reminding readers about the characters we were used to read about in the first seven books. Even though they are still the base of novels, "The Stranger From the Sea" focuses more on children and new characters whose development is as good as those we already grew to love/hate.

One of those characters, Stephen Carrington, whom Jeremy saved from the sea, is a quite appealing young boy so I can't wait to see what will become from him since his arrival to Cornwall and Ross's family seems crucial, especially because of his affection toward Clowance and her curiosity about him.

As much as this book doesn't give us an already known story about Ross and Demelza's marriage, Ross and George's rivalry, the mining business, the endless struggles of the common folk, I sort of enjoyed the fresh ideas and new characters. Let's see what will become of it.

Once again Winston Graham showed what a master of writing he is. This time not just with his writing style but with exceptional character development. So, I think anyone who appreciates intelligent writing would find this book interesting.

I especially liked the fact that Winston Graham didn't lose his sense of writing "Poldark" saga after making a huge gap between books. If nothing else, I feel like he improved his writing skills when it comes to this particular series.

Well, I didn't feel a huge desire to read the rest of the books in the series because I wasn't sure if I'm interested in reading about Ross/Demelza's and George/Elizabeth's children but the other part of me can't leave now. The other part of me simply don't quit before the real end.

We always talk about how life was so much better before and books like this one proves it. Descriptions of the country life, the sea, and the beach, manners and friendships people had definitely make me wonder why so much of it is lost today.
This is a type of book you really want to escape to.

Winston Graham (1908-2003) is the author of more than 40 novels, and is best known for the highly successful Poldark series. His novels have been translated into 17 languages and six have been filmed, the most notable being Marnie directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

As I mentioned below, we get to know so many new characters and the reader might feel bored learning about them instead of reading about Ross and George, Demelza, Dwight, Drake, Morwenna, etc. But, what will hold your attention is beautiful passages, describing life in Cornwall. I honestly think this is what Winston Graham does the best. Even if you're bored with the story, you definitely wouldn't be bored reading through descriptions of country life in Cornwall. You can feel warmth and love he put in those passages.

If you ask me, "Poldark" novel series could easily end up with a previous book "The Angry Tide", with the death of Elizabeth Warleggan. The leftover books have more focus on the children (Valentine, Geoffrey Charles, Jeremy, Clowence, Isabella) and their lives in Cornwall. I assume that readers wouldn't find the rest of the books as interesting as the first 7 because now we have a lot of new characters that we have to get to know instead of keep going with those we read so much about in previous books.

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Created Nov 20, 2019 at 8:09am • Submit your own review...