The World of Poldark

By Emma Marriott

The World of Poldark explores the characters, the compelling stories and the era that Winston Graham's Poldark novels- and the television series - set out to recreate, the England that Ross Poldark returned to from the American War of Independence. England, and especially Cornwall, was then marked by social unrest and a deep division between rich and poor. It was a place of tin mines and shipwrecks, of new money versus old, of harsh justice and great kindness.

Amid the turmoil of eighteenth-century Cornwall, Ross comes back to a home in ruins, his father dead and his childhood sweetheart engaged to another - his own heart as battered as the country around him.

Experience the great houses and the glorious landscapes and follow the cast of characters as their stories play out against the backdrop of Cornwall's wild beauty, through interviews with the actors, behind the scenes insights and in-depth information on costumes, props and locations. Packed full of behind the scenes photographs, The World of Poldark is the ultimate guide to the popular series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Sep 6, 2016
• ISBN: 9781250102720

Emma Marriott

Emma Marriott is a writer and editor, and author of several popular history books, including the bestselling series I Used to Know That: History and The History of the World in Bite-Sized Chunks. As a former in-house Macmillan senior editor, she also has extensive experience editing a wide range of television and film tie-in books and is the creator of the bestselling Mums Are Like Buttons: They Hold Everything Together and The World of Poldark. Emma lives in Bedfordshire with her husband and three children.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

The year is 1783 and Ross Poldark returns from the American War of Independence to his beloved Cornwall. Drained from funding costly wars overseas, Britain is in the grip of a recession, with rising prices and high taxes, falling wages, and a bubbling of social unrest. Cornwall is hit particularly hard, and only the bankers seem to be making money as once-booming mines close and debts rise. Amid this turmoil, Ross comes back to a home in ruins: his father dead and his childhood sweetheart engaged to his cousin and best friend – his own heart as battered as the country around him.

The world of the Poldarks is not an easy one to inhabit. Life expectancy in the eighteenth century is just thirty-seven years – even less in many Cornish mining communities – and a third of children never see their fifth birthday. It’s a brutal world: petty criminals are publicly flogged, hanged or left to rot in prison; blood sports remain a popular pastime amongst every class; and animals and the poor are worked into the ground. The cogs of the industrial revolution, oiled by the growth in banking, are on the turn, and there is money to be made, lots of it. A few do well, rising up the social ladder, but the bulk of the population remain in poverty, many simply scratching a living on the edge of starvation. Social hierarchy, bolstered by an intricate system of custom, deference, and local and family loyalties, is the natural order of the day – and the gulf between the haves and have-nots, the propertied and unpropertied, is still

Reviews for The World of Poldark

[meacoleman · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A companion to the PBS Masterpiece Theatre drama. This book describes the background of the Poldark series: the life and times of the characters, as well as the actors who portray them. There are loads of pictures. The perfect book for Poldark fans!

[Shih-wei,Huang · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Poldark or British family tradition to tell people wether the Royal or civilian should equal and treat people fair, democracy came from England but some how inside the play or books, feeling us there has a slavery straddles two different levels, Royal family like Poldark and tenants under landlord. The writer or play also tells people what economy history up and down but continuous growing from 1781 till now. I like Ross he is my hero!