I shall, as usual, give a shout of SPOILER ALERT ~ SPOILER ALERT ~ SPOILER ALERT ! Stop now if you don't want to know what happens !
A lot happens in this book, especially for Demelza and Morwenna, who are two of the four swans in the title - the other two being, Elizabeth and Caroline. There is not a great deal of story time for Caroline and Dwight, however she does get pregnant and is not over-joyed at the prospect of becoming a mother.
As the story opens, Ross and Demelza are still getting along quite well in the aftermath of the events told in Warleggan - it is not until later in the story that Demelza makes choices that will once again rock the foundation of their love! Wheal Grace is still producing. Jeremy and Clowence are a delight to their parents. Ross reluctantly gets drawn into politics and beats George out of his Parliament seat (nanny nanny boo boo).
Elizabeth and George are not getting along, mostly because he suspects Valentine is not his son. George wins a seat in Parliament (or was that in The Black Moon; I can't remember!) anyway, the puffed-up bastard is proud of that but gets the wind knocked out of his sails when he loses his seat to Ross in the next election. Geoffrey Charles is sent off to school to help get him away from Drake. Elizabeth later swears on the bible that Valentine is George's son, which helps to relieve his suspicions, but never entirely.
George has forced Morwenna to marry a pastor who is an older man and a widower with two children. The randy Reverend Osborn (Ossie) is a disgusting horn-dog who only wants her for her body - she however, is in love with Drake Carne and though she can't stop the wedding from happening, she never gives a single part of her true self to her husband. You can't help but feel bad for poor Morwenna! She has a son and her sister comes to help her care for the house and child. Morwenna has a difficult childbirth and Rev. Horny is not allowed to have sex with her so he turns to her sister Rowella and has his way with her quite often. In true soap opera style, Rowella ends up pregnant - or is she? She blackmails Ossie into giving her a large sum of money to marry the local librarian so no one will find out and ruin his career. It is only later, that Ossie runs into her and sees she is NOT pregnant and he is furious. Personally, I love that Rowella put the screws to the odious Ossie. Not to be outdone by her sly sister, Morwenna twists the screw by telling Ossie if he ever touches her again, she will tell the world how he seduced her little sister. That doesn't impress old Ossie, so she then tells him she will KILL their son!! This is her ace-in-the-hole and it frees her from having to perform her wifely duties forever. (On the one hand, I'm thinking YAY Morwenna! - on the other, I'm thinking Kill her baby??, holy crap!)
Meanwhile, back at Trenwith, Elizabeth is off on an estate issue (George is out of town) and runs into our hero, Ross. It is the first time they are alone together since the night he broke into her room and forced her to have sex with him. Things are a little awkward at first, but the conversation moves along to the fact that Elizabeth's marriage is falling apart - she tells him that George suspects that Valentine is not his son, though she is certain he does not know about Ross coming to her room. This comes as a surprise to Ross who asks Elizabeth if the child is his. She doesn't know for sure and tells him so. Ross realizes he still has feelings for Lizzy, even though at the end of Warleggan he told Demelza he no longer cared about Elizabeth! They touch on the events of the night he had his way with her and it is mention that after the first shock, Elizabeth was a willing partner, as many of us wanted to believe when we read it. As they say goodbye, he can't stop himself from kissing her several times, not with true passion, but certainly not like a brother either.
We also learn more about Sam and a woman he desires named Emma. He wants to marry her and convert her into an honest woman with the grace of God upon her. She, however, is not all that certain she can live that life, though she does have feelings for him. Drake in the meantime, is busy trying to run the business that Ross helped him acquire. He pines for Morwenna but there is little he can do to change the situation.
Jud spills the beans to Demelza that Ross and Elizabeth had seen each other! She does not confront Ross about it, however. She meets Hugh Armitage, the man that Ross inadvertently saved from prison when he rescued Dwight. Hugh falls hard for Demelza and is constantly making his feelings known, not even trying very hard to keep Ross from knowing about it. Demelza is flattered and can't help herself from falling for Hugh's attentions, though she does try to keep things in line. She and Ross have a heartfelt discussion about her feelings for Hugh and I believe Ross feels it is quite the same as his feelings for Elizabeth and though he doesn't say this to Demelza, it makes him far more understanding that you would expect him to be. Demelza was married so young and never had admirers before Ross came into her life. I truly believe she loves Ross deeply with everything she has, but this handsome young man, sending her love poems, telling her of his yearnings, comes into her life and weasels his way into her heart - it's a different kind of love and one she doesn't know how to handle. One fateful day, after learning Hugh was going blind and nothing could be done about it, she spends an afternoon with him and allows him to sweet talk her into his arms and they make love on a deserted beach. I have to admit, I was disappointed in her! As I was reading, I'm thinking DON'T DO IT ! DON'T DO IT!... but she didn't listen and did it anyway. In her defense, she did try to dissuade him several times before she finally caved. She realizes the magnitude of her transgression and I think she hates herself a little though I don't believe she regrets it - - at least not for now. Maybe that changes in later books. Ross, never actually asks her if she 'did it' with Hugh, but he knows something has happened. He takes it pretty well considering he had a hissy fit when he learned of her failed attempt to seduce McNeil back in book four. Demelza never actually admits she went all the way with Hugh, but she knows Ross knows. She tells him she loves him, but if he wants her to leave she will. He does not want her to leave - in spite of everything he loves her too much to let her go.
Our story ends with Ross and Demelza still walking that tightrope between love and betrayal, but not without hope that they will survive all that life has to throw at them! I truly hope the TV series gets this far into the saga. I'm happy I decided to tune in when Poldark aired. It's opened a whole new world for me.
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