"A man is better off to be a squire in Cornwall than to be a king in England"
~Old Tholly, The Twisted Sword
I recently finished reading book 11 in the Poldark saga, The Twisted Sword. I enjoyed it very much, though it took me longer to read than the others! A short forward indicates that this is the last novel in the series, (not knowing of course that there was one more story in Winston's head) proclaiming it a brilliant finale. I have to agree it tied up loose ends quite nicely.
The story opens with Napoleon banished to Elba. Ross is asked to go to France to see what the real state of affairs is over there - at first he says no, but then he changes his mind and decides to go. The request involves a title which he doesn't want, but in the end he accepts. He and Demelza make plans to go to Paris with the children, Isabella Rose and Henry, and the nanny, Mrs. Kemp, with Dwight and Caroline and their girls joining them there later.
Jeremy is happily married to Cuby and they are expecting a baby. He is a soldier, stationed near Brussels. Clowance is settling in as Mrs. Carrington, but news of a step-son rocks her world - Stephen, up to his usual crap, never told her he had a son. He 'didn't want to upset her'. I really don't like Stephen at all. He's basically a flim-flam man and poor Clowance can't help loving him even though she suspects he's not really the man she thought she married.
Old Boney isn't about to sit around on Elba and proceeds to rebuild his army and heads back to Paris to take over again. This causes serious problems for Ross and Demelza, who become separated when take-over begins. Ross is arrested on trumped up charges by a man who pissed him off when he made overtures at Demelza. Demelza manages to escape with the kids and the nanny and eventually gets back to London and has to wait and worry over Ross's release. There's a lot more to this adventure, including some great conversations between Lord and Lady Poldark - you know the kind we like to read - the kind that end up in kisses and more - but I won't go into here.
You can well imagine that upstart George was ready to spit nails when he heard Ross is made a Lord. He doesn't have too much time to think about it because.... surprise! Harriet is pregnant! George sees this as a chance to get a son to replace Valentine. He also has a plan to bring down Stephen Carrington - he is sure took part in the robbery of the coach, but he does not have enough proof to get him arrested. So he tries to ruin him instead and nearly succeeds.
With the war rekindled, Jeremy finds himself promoted to Captain. He leads his men into a final horrendous battle where he is shot twice. Ross, having escaped from captivity, heads out to find Jeremy - he arrives to find his son mortally wounded. They are able to have a heart-breakingly few minutes to talk before he dies with his father at his side. It struck me that once again, Ross is alone with his dying child and Demelza is not there to say goodbye!
Stephen manages to overcome his money troubles when he captures a ship. He makes a bundle of money on the venture and saves his bacon for the time being. He buys himself a horse that he feels is fitting to his newly acquired station. He meets up with Harriet Warleggan and wants to show her what a fine horse he has. They chit-chat and he finds himself lusting after her a bit. They take off to race and see whose horse is best - Stephen's horse cannot make one of the jumps and he is thrown off and breaks his back. He's just so full of himself, I can't feel any sympathy for him and not much for Clowance. She knows he lies and keeps things from her. Anyway, Stephen does not recover from this accident and leaves Clowance a widow.
So much happens in this volume, I know I'm forgetting a lot. One important but small chapter has Valentine actually asking Ross if might be his father. Ross tells him the truth, that it is possible, but no one can be sure. He tells him he must never speak of this and if he finds out he has, he'll kill him. Ross does not want Elizabeth's memory to be tarnished.
The loving cup - I really thought it would come back to haunt Jeremy, but in the end, it was thrown into a deep well by Demelza - Jeremy had sent her a letter requesting her to throw it in the sea if he did not return. Ross was puzzled by her actions, but did not try to pry the truth out of her.
Isabella Rose, who is only thirteen, meets a young soldier and they fall in love - Mom and Dad are hoping it is just a passing fancy. I guess I'll find out in the next and last book.
Last but not least, because we all love it when someone puts the screws to George - Harriet gives birth to TWIN GIRLS. Serves the bastard right. Lol
