"The Angry Tide" is the 7th book in the "Poldark" novel series and so far my favorite reading.
Ross is being chosen as a member of Parliament and, in order to fulfill his duty, he had to move to London for a while. But, even though in a different setting, it seems that he simply can't get away from problems. Aside from the already known rivalry with George his temper get short with another member of Parliament—Monk Adderley— unscrupulous rake who, somehow, found the way to challenge Ross on a duel after an uncomfortable encounter with Demelza who came to stay in London with Ross in order to see the charms of it. Adderley gets shot in a duel and dies right after but before that asks Ross to pay 10 guineas to George as a dept. When Ross attempts to fulfill the dead man's wish readers notice that George's hate toward Ross is on a whole new level thanks to a comment Geoffrey Charles made earlier in a book about how Valentine is a spitting image of Ross and that way jeopardizing George and Elizabeth's marriage once again. In order to have things as good as before Elizabeth makes fatal decision—she visits a doctor and expresses desire that her current pregnancy (with George) don't go in full-term but rather to deliver an 8 months old child so that it looks like she was prone to delivering children in the 8th month of pregnancy like in Valentine's case in order to cover suspicion that Valentine is indeed George's child and not Ross's. Her plan didn't go as smoothly as she thought. She suffered gangrene due to medicine she took and she dies after delivering a healthy daughter.

On the other side, Enyses go through their own suffering and dealing with themselves when Dwight discovers their only child, Sarah, was born with a murmur on the heart and dies after her small body picks up slight flu.

Morwenna Whitworth's marriage keeps getting worse. After she suffered a mental breakdown due to constant rape by her vile husband she threatens him that she will kill their own child if he ever touches her again. Vicar Osbourne, afraid she'll really do it, distance himself from her but his disgusting sexual nature leads him in the wrong direction. Morwenna's sister Rowella came to their house to spend some time with them, helping around, gets involved sexually with Osbourne. Morwenna finds out about them and isolates herself completely from both, still threatening she will kill her child if he ever comes to her room. In the meanwhile, Rowella gets married to a local librarian Arthur but still continue to see Osbourne occasionally until one night when Arthur came home earlier and saw them together. Led by extreme confusion and hate, he waits for Osbourne in the woods, makes his horse get him off of the saddle and drags him by one leg to the town. The ride ended up with Osbourne's death after which Morwenna found some strength to leave the house and Osbourne's child to his mother. She searches for Drake and tells him everything that she's been through. Even though it seems their relationship from now on will continue as before, they both realize the abuse Morwenna suffered will stay with them for a great period of time, preventing their marriage to be normal.

I especially liked that in this book we are moved to London and got to know slightly different habits and culture of people living there. Cornwall though will remain a favorite setting in the books because of wonderful landscapes and beaches the author described so wonderfully. London was definitely harsher, colder, snobbish when I take into consideration people who lived there.

I was a bit disappointed with Elizabeth's ending but I understood why it happened the way it did.

I wanted to see what will happen with George Warleggan now when the only person he ever was capable of loving is dead and gone.

Just like the book title suggests—The Angry Tide—I can surely say the author did an amazing job portraying (metaphorically) the sea crashing rocks—the most horrible experiences women in marriage can have such as rape and a loss of a child.

Winston Mawdsley Graham OBE (30 June 1908 – 10 July 2003) was an English novelist best known for the Poldark series of historical novels set in Cornwall. Graham's father, Albert Grime, was a prosperous tea importer and grocer. His second son, Winston, was born at 66 Langdale Road, Victoria Park, Manchester on 30 June 1908, at 8 a.m. As a child, Winston contracted pneumonia and on medical advice was educated at a local day school, rather than Manchester Grammar School which his father had in mind for him.

This is so far my favorite book in a series. When I first started reading I thought each book had something favorable but this one is quite special because, for the first time, we were guided deeply in other characters' lives and struggles. I already mentioned how readers might start to feel dull because of endless rivalry between Ross and George so I thought the author did a great job distancing himself from writing about them and focusing more on other characters who are an equally important part of "Poldark" saga like Caroline and Dwight Enys and Morwenna/Drake Carne-Morwenna/Osbourne Whitworth. Also, Elizabeth Chenoweth now Warleggan, who is the essential part of the books because it, literally, started with her had her shocking and quite disturbing ending.

One of the female characters, essential for the plot, is going through a horrible sexual experience that I consider as a trigger warning for everyone who has been through some kind of sexual abuse. I can't say that I don't recommend this book at all because it is so far the most intriguing one in the series, but just to keep in mind the trigger warning. The author doesn't go into details, he never did, but it's quite an emotional reading.

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Created Nov 06, 2019 at 8:00am • Submit your own review...