In this final book of the "Poldark" novel series, we get to see what will happen with the next to the youngest child, Bella Poldark. She is a young woman now and in love with Christopher who asks her parents for permission to marry Bella but they're not sure about it because she still seems too young. Eventually, she goes to London for voice lessons because she turns out to be an amazing singer and while in London she meets Maurice who convinces her to escape with him to France and play in opera that he is producing, The Barber of Seville. He seduces her even though knowing about Christopher but she has a huge success with opera and stays with him.

Meanwhile, in Cornwall, there is a serial killer roaming around and one night attacks Demelza. However, she manages to escape him.

Clowance is greaving Stephen's death but is still disappointed with him after she realizes Stephen was married to another woman when he married her. She is now spending time with a handsome officer Phillip who suffers PTSD but her former suitor Lord Edward comes back, asking again to marry her.

Upon Bella's arrival in Cornwall, her relationship with Christopher is over and she picked up morbid throat—an illness that killed Ross and Demelza's first child, Julia. After Clowance's tender, she manages to survive but her voice is lost and her singing ability with it.

Valentine Warleggan, who by this time hates the guts out of George, has a really good relationship with Ross. He even suggested Ross be his father after which Ross admits that there is a possibility that he really is his and Elizabeth's son. I thought Valentine's story arc is great up until the point when he brings the chimp into his home. The chimp starts the fire who kills him together with Valentine and nearly kills Ross too after he tries to save him. Due to the loss of another son, Ross withdraws from everyone and suffers depression that will eventually reduce, especially after seeing Bella playing in the theater.

In the end, Clowance is married to her former suitor Lord Edward and Bella is back to Christopher.

One last time I'll recommend Winston Graham's "Poldark" series because of its amazing passages and descriptions of Cornwall. You'd think it's impossible to describe the cliffs, the sea, the waves, but he does it extremely well. I've never been to Cornwall but by reading these books I feel as if I lived there forever. It was refreshing to read good old literature.

After all death and heartache, depression and illness, the best thing about this novel series is that the main characters—Ross and Demelza—lived successfully through it all. They have some sort of a happy ending although I don't think they are genuinely happy people after they lost a couple of their children (Julia, Jeremy, and then Valentine who was truly Ross's son). This couple grew into my heart with the last five books because of their earthly features—Ross with his sense of righteousness, his bravery, Demelza with her motherly love and the ability to adapt to the society she didn't belong to at first.

I loved this book because it gave a happy end to female children and I can't help but question why male children died, especially Jeremy. In "The Black Moon" I remember aunt Agatha said that Valentine is born under the black moon and he is cursed so I assumed his ending won't be nice but it's so weird about Jeremy. Anyway, I'm not complaining, it just made me wonder why it happened the way it did.

I put notes in between some of the favorite passages in every book so I'll definitely pay a visit to those since I feel like they deserve a re-read. It's very hard when you turn the last page of such amazing work such as "Poldark" novels.

I've been a little bit confused with a couple of novelties such as serial killer in Cornwall and Butto the chimp but both of these aspects had an important role to play so I can't say I'm disappointed. The same as with previous books, novelties incorporated well with the rest of the story (for example, the chimp is being responsible for Valentine's death) and I thought it was great writing overall.

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.
He lived in Perranporth from 1925 until 1959, and briefly in the south of France during 1960, then settled in East Sussex. He was Chairman of the Society of Authors and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and in 1983 was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

Obviously, I recommend this book because it's the last book in a series and if you read previous ones then you need to read it till the end . On a serious note, many readers thought the novel series could easily end up with "The Angry Tide" and Elizabeth Warleggan's death. Many readers said there was no point going further than there, but the last five books were pure joy to me because I got to know what happened with the new generation of Poldark characters. Even though the outcome is not very pleasant—major characters died before they actually lived—this novel series will stay with me for a long time as one of the best novel series I've read so far. It's completely worth it to put yourself through all 12 books in a series in order to understand what an amazing writer Winston Graham is.

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Created Dec 01, 2019 at 9:51am • Submit your own review...