BOOKISHGAL

British actor Kevin McNally has a lot to answer for.

I was looking through my shelves for another Book I Own But Haven’t Read, and I happened to notice Poldark’s Cornwall, by Winston Graham, with photographs by Simon McBride. But then I realized that in order to describe the significance of this book, I’d have to explain who “Poldark” was, and how I discovered the Poldark novels to begin with. So the post has expanded beyond that original book.

It was sometime around 1979 or 1980. One Sunday evening I was flipping through channels and happened to catch a glimpse of a Very Pretty Face, that belonged to a guy named Kevin McNally. He was portraying a young man named Drake Carne, a lower class village man growing way too fond of an upper class girl named Morwena. I started watching (because he was so cute!), and soon discovered I had come into the middle of a Masterpiece Theater series on PBS, called “Poldark.” Drake and Morwena’s love affair had several tragic turns over the next few episodes before they were through, but it turned out happily in the end. Sort of. (Read the books! Or find the series.) (And if you find it on DVD — tell me where to get it.)

I eventually found out that both Poldark series on Masterpiece Theater (I had encountered the second one) had been adapted from seven books written by Winston Graham, following the life of a man named Ross Poldark, who lived in Cornwall in the late 18th century. The first book begins with Ross returning from fighting against the American Revolutionaries, to discover that the love of his life has just married his cousin. And from that one thing flow countless repercussions, that take us through the seven original books about Ross’s generation, and then through five more about Ross as well as his children.

I had discovered, bought, and avidly read the original seven books long before I finally saw both Poldark series completely through. I was enthralled, enchanted, insert-adjective-here. I watched the series when Masterpiece Theatre was being re-run through the summer. Later on, when the series were re-run again in the wee hours of the morning, I went to bed early, woke myself up so I could watch, and then went back to bed.

Not only did you fall in love with the characters (dark, intense Ross; earthy, captivating Demelza; hostile George; spoiled Caroline; Very Pretty Drake), but you fell in love with Cornwall too. The scenery and backdrop of Cornwall was sometimes as much a part of the story as the plot. The wild moors, the rocky shores and cliffs - they often played a role in how the story itself came to pass. Demelza’s fishing trip with the dying Hugh. Ross’s dangerous crossing to France to retrieve doctor Dwight.(**) You grew to love the land as well as the characters.

In fact, when I recently wrote a novel in which the last scene took place just after the main characters had secretly come across in boats from France, to land in Cornwall, my descriptions of the crossing, the weather, and the small rocky beach where they landed were all taken from my memories of similar scenes in Poldark.

But all of the preceding was, of course, why I bought the companion volume to the novels, Poldark’s Cornwall, which I did skim through but have never just sat down and read. I’ve been planning to read the entire series through, including this book. I was merely waiting until I finally, finally could find a copy of The Twisted Sword, book eleven, and until the twelfth - and definitely final - Poldark book, Bella Poldark, was published. But that happened just a few months ago, so it’s time to start again from the beginning.

I think the only historical novels I love better than the Poldark books are Dorothy Dunnett’s Lymond and Niccolo series, which are in a class by themselves. But of all the other historical novels I’ve ever read (and I’ve read a ton of them) - nothing matches Poldark.

And returning to Kevin McNally. Exactly the same thing happened a few months later: flipping through channels, and there’s that Very Pretty Face again, this time playing the character named Castor, in the Masterpiece Theater series, I, Claudius. Which I started watching, because of him. And bought the books of, because of him. See what he made me do??

(** About doctor Dwight Enys, mentioned above. He was played by Richard Morant in the first series, but then played by Michael Cadman in the second. The second series starts with Ross crossing over to France to rescue his friend Dwight, who has been captured by the French revolutionaries. The whole rescue is accomplished in silence. And when the new version of Dwight Enys finally speaks, encountering his fiancée after he’s brought home, the very first words out of his mouth - uttered by the new actor in the role - are “I’m not the man I was.” I swear, I can.not. get. through. that. scene. without shrieking with laughter.)

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