The final season of Poldark is premiering here in North America tonight (29 September 2019), and we finally catch up to our UK brethren. Poldark started rather quietly over here, but has quite a dedicated fan base! And although it is a shorter season with only 8-10 episodes, we can’t get enough. So, what to do when you want more? Obviously dive into a good book! Get ready to settle down for an afternoon or five and get lost in the pages. These are the best books if you like Poldark and want to continue on!
I am really lucky that I am a member of NetGalley. It is a review site where you can request different eARCS (electronic Advanced Reader Copies) of upcoming books, and read them for free in exchange for sharing your review. It gives me the chance to read many books that I otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to! (And it means that I’m not receiving a physical book for each ARC, which I appreciate. Physical ARCs are nice, but I think it can be a waste of materials in a lot of cases.) When I was looking on NetGalley in August, I was thrilled to see four Poldark novels on the site- I requested them and was luckily approved!
Poldark Novels- The Best Books If You Love Poldark
If you didn’t know, Poldark is actually based on a 1950s to 1970s book series. There was a 1970s television show, as well, but the 2010s show is based on the novel series. There are twelve different novels in the series, following the Poldark clan and their associated friends and family. And after reading these novels, I would say that it continues the story quite faithfully! (One of my major qualms with the Outlander series is that Gabaldon attempts to cover too many people throughout. That isn’t an issue in the Poldark novels!) And normally I don’t recommend it, but you can actually pick up the series from the eighth book, The Stranger From the Sea without missing anything. (That is, if you are up-to-date on the show.)
If you are looking for something to continue on with after the television show, I would heartily recommend reading the Poldark novels. We see Ross and Demelza and George carry on through later adulthood, while also getting to know the new generation of Poldarks and Warleggans. Now that we know that Poldark is finished for good on television (at least in this telling), we will have to get our fix from Graham’s original words! And given that it is now the autumn, we will have much more time inside to spend our reading hours in Cornwall…
Note: I received all five of these books as free eARCs from NetGalley in exchange for honest reivews. A huge thank you to NetGalley for being so wonderful and providing them!
The Stranger From the Sea, Winston Graham- 8 October 2019
Cornwall 1810. The Poldark family awaits the return of Ross from his mission to Wellington’s army in Portugal. But their ordered existence ends with Jeremy Poldark’s dramatic rescue of the stranger from the sea.
Stephen Carrington’s arrival in the Poldark household changes all their lives. For Clowance and Jeremy in particular, the children of Ross and Demelza, Stephen’s advent is the key to a new world – one of both love and danger.
The Miller’s Dance, Winston Graham- 8 October 2019
At Nampara, the Poldark family finds the new year brings involvement in more than one unexpected venture. For Ross and Demelza there is some surprising – and worrying – news. And Clowance, newly returned from her London triumphs, finds that her entanglement with Stephen Carrington brings not only happiness but heartache.
As the armies battle in Spain, and the political situation at home becomes daily more obscure, the Poldark and Warleggan families find themselves thrust into a turbulent new era as complex and changing as the patterns of the Miller’s Dance . . .
In his Poldark series, Winston Graham explores the complications of love lost and the class struggle of early 19th-century England with a light comic touch. The Miller’s Dance is followed by the tenth book in the series, The Loving Cup.
The Loving Cup, Winston Graham- 8 October 2019
A silver cup lies half-forgotten in a dank cave, amongst a pile of stolen goods. Yet the tiny vessel and its inscription Amor gignit amorem haunts the lives of the still-feuding Poldark and Warleggan families, as Ross, Demelza and the ambitious and powerful Sir George Warleggan watch their children make the decisions that will shape their destinies.
In the closing years of the wars against Napoleon, for Jeremy and Clowance, and for arrogant, cynical Valentine Warleggan, these are troubled and momentous times . . .
In his Poldark series, Winston Graham explores the complications of love lost and the class struggle of early 19th-century England with a light comic touch. The Loving Cup is followed by the eleventh book in the series, The Twisted Sword.
The Twisted Sword, Winston Graham- 22 October 2019
Demelza sees a horseman riding down the valley and senses disruption to the domestic contentment she has fought so hard to achieve. For Ross has little option but to accept the summons – and travel to Paris with his family, as an ‘observer’ of the French armed forces.
Parisian life begins well with an exhilarating round of balls and parties. But the return of Napoleon brings separation, distrust and danger to the Poldarks . . . and always for Demelza there is the shadow of the secret she does not even share with Ross.
In his Poldark series, Winston Graham explores the complications of love lost and the class struggle of early 19th-century England with a light comic touch. The Twisted Sword is followed by the twelfth book in the Poldark series, Bella Poldark.
Bella Poldark, Winston Graham- 22 October 2019
We continue the tale of Ross and Demelza; of the wayward Valentine Warleggan, whose existence keeps open the old wounds of the feud between Ross and George; of Bella, the Poldarks’ youngest daughter, whose precocious talent as a singer is encouraged by her old flame, Christopher Havergal, and by a distinguished French conductor, who has more in mind than Bella’s music; of Clowance, the Poldarks’ widowed daughter, who considers remarriage to one of two rival suitors; and of a murderer who stalks the villages of west Cornwall.
In his Poldark series, Winston Graham explores the complications of love lost and the class struggle of early 19th-century England with a light comic touch. Bella Poldark is the final Poldark book.
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If you are looking for more historical books to dive into, I would recommend looking at the best historical fiction books to get lost in! Although our favourite television series seem to end earlier than we like, thankfully we have no shortage of reading material. (And it is the perfect time of year to cuddle up with a book…)
What do you think the best books if you love Poldark are? And are you watching the final series of Poldark?
Cheers,
The Historian
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