Cornwall - Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier

[Janet]

CORNWALL

Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier

Synopsis:
Her mother's dying request takes Mary Yellan on a sad journey across the bleak moorland of Cornwall to reach Jamaica Inn, the home of her Aunt Patience. With the coachman's warning echoing in her memory, Mary arrives to find Patience a changed woman, cowering from her overbearing husband, Joss Merlyn.

Her mother's dying request obliges Mary Yellan to make a grim journey across bleak Cornish moorland to Jamaica Inn, the home of her Aunt Patience and her overbearing husband, Joss Merlyn. With the coachman's warning echoing in her mind and affected by the inn's brooding power, Mary is thwarted in her intention to help her aunt. She finds herself drawn unwillingly into the misdeeds of Joss and his accomplices, and even more disturbing are her feelings for a man she dare not trust... Jamaica Inn is a dark and gripping gothic tale that will remind readers of two other great classics, Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights .

Other books set in Cornwall:

My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier

Frenchman's Creek by Daphne Du Maurier

(other Du Maurier novels - but these are probably the most famous - Rebecca is likely to be set in Cornwall too)

The Poldark books by Winston Graham

Greenwich by Susan Cooper (The Dark is Rising book #3)

Various non-fiction books by Derek Tangye

 

See here and here for more options

[Janet]

My first 'counties challenge' book.  I'm not terribly good at putting my thoughts down on paper, but here goes!

 

Previously I've read and enjoyed Rebecca - and Rule Britannia, which was Du Maurier's last published work of fiction -  so it’s a bit of a mystery to me why I waited until this challenge to read anything else by her!

Set on Bodmin Moor, Jamaica Inn is a dark gothic tale set in nineteenth century Cornwall. On the death of her mother, Mary Yellan sets out on the journey to Jamaica Inn where she is to live with her Aunt and Uncle. The coachman taking her to her new destination issues a grim warning about the suitability of Jamaica Inn as a home for Mary – it has a sinister reputation and although it is a coaching inn, most of the trade passes without stopping.

With the coachman’s warning ringing in her ears, Mary arrives at the Inn with a feeling of unease and discovers her formerly vibrant Aunt to be a downtrodden wife to the domineering Uncle Joss – the Inn is a place of secrets. Mary copes with her new life by spending time on the moors where she encounters Joss’ brother, Jem and the vicar of nearby parish of Altarnun, but when events at Jamaica Inn take a more serious turn, who can she actually trust?

As Rebecca is one of my favourite books I was a bit nervous about reading this one, but although it is very different I loved it too. I was drawn in to the story straight away and Du Maurier depicts the atmosphere of the moors just perfectly. I loved the characterisation in the novel. Despite the time period, Mary was portrayed as a strong woman, which I liked. 

I fell a little bit in love with Jem myself and although I couldn’t put my finger on why, I didn’t trust the vicar – my instincts about him proved to be correct.

I found the story to be gripping in places and I didn’t want to put the book down. I was sorry when it ended, which is always the mark of a good book.

As my first book of the ‘counties’ challenge, this was a really great one to start with – it really captured the essence of Cornwall and has definitely whetted my appetite for some more of the author’s works.

 

5/5

[Alexi]

Review copied from my book log. I think it's obvious I enjoyed this one!

 

 

Wow. I've been missing out by not reading Du Maurier before now. What a scene she sets!

 

We meet te heroine, Mary Yellan, as she is travelling across Cornwall, from her farm in Helford up to Jamaica Inn in North Cornwall, after the death of her Mum. I was drawn in straight away, by the descriptions of the wind, rain and desolate moors that set a tone for the rest of the book. Du Maurier can certainly write! 

 

The house she arrives at is grey and forbidding, with such a horrible reputation that the coach will not usually stop there and races away as soon as he dropped Mary at the side of the road. Her uncle is a large and scary man, and Mary soon discovers he is engaged in rather dodgy business. 

 

But is that enough to explain her aunt's terrified looks and constant fright, or is there more going on?

 

The author has a great skill in giving the tale a growing sense of foreboding and building up towards a crescendo. Reading this for Cornwall in the English Counties Challenge, I thought it was a perfect choice, with the book really giving me a sense of the desolation of the moors, including the fog and mist and marshes that can kill a man, but also giving you a sense of the changing nature of the county. Where Mary comes from in the south, the geography is quite different, and I thought that was conveyed very well. 

 

I really liked the character of Mary and how independent she was, and how it was easy to see she might struggle being born as a woman in the 1800s - she would have fitted in perfectly in the modern times I suspect. She was brave and courageous, even if you could see a chink of her armour exposed when she was quick to trust a couple of stranger she had barely met! 

 

The above is why I deducted half a mark for: 

 

 

The ending - Which was a bit cheesy! And also annoying how she was the only one who was expected to compromise - she had to give up going back to Helford to travel with him. I'm not sure Helford life would have suited her actually, but that wasn't the point - Jem refused to contemplate going with her!

 

 

I would thoroughly recommend this. 

 

4.5/5 

[Janet]

Yay - I'm glad you enjoyed it. 

 

Both Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel are worth a read too!     I've read 4 by her now and I'm definitely going to read some more!

[Alexi]

Rebecca was already on my wishlist but I'm going to make sure it gets onto the TBR ASAP!

[chesilbeach]

I'm having a real problem with this challenge - every time I read someone else's review I want to read that book immediately!  Great to see you both enjoyed it so much.  I've read Rebecca and loved it, and have wanted to read more of her work, so this will certainly mean I will read at least one more.

[Janet]

Rebecca was already on my wishlist but I'm going to make sure it gets onto the TBR ASAP!

Yay!

 

I'm having a real problem with this challenge - every time I read someone else's review I want to read that book immediately!  Great to see you both enjoyed it so much.  I've read Rebecca and loved it, and have wanted to read more of her work, so this will certainly mean I will read at least one more.

I'm sure you won't be disappointed, Claire. 

[chesilbeach]

Thanks to Janet for buying me a copy, I got to read this book in this beautiful edition:

 

 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  The gothic Cornish smugglers tale has an underlying sense of foreboding right from the start that builds to a nerve jangling conclusion.  The wildness of Dartmoor is brought to life, the isolation of the inn adds to the unsettling feeling of the story.

 

I love Mary, she was strong and determined, but undermined by her brute of an uncle she has to find a way out of the life that her aunt had become embedded in.  Joss is wonderfully drawn as a heartless and domineering man, his brooding menace filtering throughout the inn, and his bullying of everyone making for a dismal home for Mary.  The other characters are perhaps less well developed, and I did have a nagging problem with Aunt Patience - how could the woman Mary had met ten years previously have married a man like Joss and become the cowering dormouse, who was still prepared to care for her husband at his worst moments?

 

I can forgive the book for that though, as the story is a cracker.  It rattles along at quite a pace and has some shocking moments, but always makes the most of its Cornish setting.  Proper old fashioned story telling, I enjoyed it immensely.

[willoyd]

Claire, your posting of your review reminds me that I hadn't included mine here yet - I read Jamaican Inn about a month ago.  So here it is, copied over from by blog thread - with some distinct similarities!

 

Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier ****
 
A good, old fashioned, adventure yarn. Mary Yellan, recently bereaved of her widow mother and forced to leave her family home, goes to live with her aunt, wife of the landlord of the Jamaican Inn, high on Bodmin Moor. Aunt Patience is a sadly changed woman from the flighty, pretty sister of her mother than Mary remembers, and it's easy to see why when Mary meets her bullying husband. Not just a bully, he is soon revealed as heavily involved in some pretty dreadful  criminal activity.....

Positively reeking of the moors, and with an atmosphere that you could cut with a very blunt knife, Jamaica Inn is about as far removed in terms of setting from The Day of the Triffids (my previous Counties Challenge read) as one could possibly manage. Whereas TDOTT had absolutely no sense of the Isle of Wight, its affiliation in the English Counties Challenge - not one page being set there - Jamaica Inn must be the quintessential Cornish novel. The continuous commentary on the feebleness of women grated somewhat after a time,  even though Mary is anything but.  Aside from that though, this had everything that one could want from an adventure story, including a storyline that fairly gallops along and kept this reader fully engaged. It's not great literature, but it is certainly a cut above the modern day norm. I was surprised to realise that this was my first Du Maurier; I am sure it won't be the last.

Edited April 16, 2016 by willoyd