After watching the TV series, I was determined to read the entire book-series and so far enjoy the books just as much.

In it I got to know the characters and had my favourites too; forming a perfect picture in my mind of life back in the late 1700s.

Once I read the books, the characters became alive as each enter the scene and can I identify with the sights and sounds of this beautiful part of the world: Nampara, the beach as the Poldark couple walk along the coastline are just a few to mention.

It is a well-developed story that keeps your attention from beginning to end and I get engrossed with each character once more.

In book 3, we are facing the trail of Ross once more. With each character telling it from their point of view to give you a broad picture of the town, how the people lived. Their views, experiences and hardships, etc. It all is vividly described within the pages.

The author's writing style was something to get used to, but now that I do, the reading goes quicker. The detail adds to the development of the story. It feels like I am right there with each one as they struggle through puddles and mud. Walk through an overcrowded town, or along the coast, or even being inside a pub. Everything becomes alive. This time my sight is not directed by a camera but by my imagination.

It is truly a great story that takes you back into times when the luxury of everyday things we take for granted wasn't available. Where women and children were treated with contempt and the average person had no value.

I can understand why this story is such a favourite among many readers and that the TV series was such a big hit. It touches the heart of humankind and shows us what we as humans can accomplish, no matter the odds against you. ( )

The third book in the Poldark series. The farther into the series I go the deeper my feelings become for these marvelous characters. Demelza Poldark is one of the most finely drawn, enthralling women ever put to paper. She has become the heart of the books for me, and I feel that Winston Graham must have felt the same. She is open and honest and leads with her heart, and she puts the gentry to shame.

In this book we become better acquainted with Dwight Enys, a doctor ahead of his time, who feels for his patients and despairs when he cannot provide for them the basic services they so sorely need. And, there is, of course, the villain, George Warleggan, whose villainy springs from all to recognizable human traits: greed, jealousy, and feelings of his own insecurity. I love his repartee with Caroline Penvenen that is charged with both humor and an undercurrent of sexual tension.

Ross Poldark walks the tightrope that is life, and he does it without a net. He faces risks with bravado but without arrogance. He knows he might lose at any moment and that what he bets on is precious and irreplaceable, but he is unwilling to let someone else pulls his strings. You cannot help admiring him, even when he is so headstrong and wrong-headed that you want to shake him.

I cannot imagine what more one would want from a story of this nature than that it holds you, involves you, and pleases you. Winston Graham does all three. I am anxious to begin Book Four.

”Human beings were blind, crazy creatures, he thought, forever walking the tightrope of the present condemned to ever changing shifts and expedients to maintain the balance of existence, not knowing even as far ahead as tomorrow what the actions of today would bring. How could one plan a year ahead, how influence the imponderables?”

( )

This sees Verity marrying the love of her life, although I think waters will be choppy because of her step children, which she has yet to meet. Jeremy is the new born son of Ross, and although the book is named after him, he didn't make an appearance until the last 1/3 of the book. I've seen Ross make a few bad calls in judgement during this book and I hope that turns around as the next book in the series is entitled the name of his nemesis. ( )

This is my least favorite of the first three in the [Poldark] saga by [Winston Graham] but that dosen't mean I did't like it. In this volume Ross and his cousin come to a truce and they enter into mining together again. George Warlaggan gets increasinly disguting, Caroline continues to befriend Demelza and a new baby is born. Basically this book is about life moving on. ( )

Jeremy (son of Demelza and Ross) is more in the background as opposed to being the subject. Not really factored in in the tv PBS series. ( )