Poldark Series by Winston Graham

Do you ever watch a show, realize it’s a book, and get that panicked feeling of “Oh no! Should I read it first or watch it first?” I recently stumbled across Masterpiece’s new series Poldark. I fell in love with the story, the characters, and the landscape. I enjoyed the series so much I could not temper my patience waiting for Sunday to arrive and a new episode to play. I went online and ordered the DVD (sometimes it’s awesome when the shows air in Britain first). Of course, like all good series, season one ended with cliffhangers and our beloved characters are in all kinds of messes. With sadness in my heart and no idea of when season two would be available, I sadly turned off the tv and went to read my latest book before bed. Suddenly the thought hits me, “DUH!! Poldark was based on a book.” I raced to Goodreads online to investigate this happy thought and all while singing to myself, “It’s a book! Just go read it!”

So begins my adventures in finding book one of Winston Grahams’ Poldark sagas (12 books in all!). The series looks like it was first published from 1945 forward. However, upon searching Amazon, Barnes and Noble and a local bookstore, I am not finding this book as available! It’s old! Where can it be? Apparently they have recently reprinted the first 2 books in the series, in June, and it’s already sold out! This is no surprise to me as the actor who portrayed Ross Poldark is on the cover of the reprinted editions. *quick pause to appreciate Adrian Turner…* Now I wait for the books to be available again at the end of this month. I just hope the books meet or exceed my expectations. When I looked on Goodreads it mentioned the series is more of a saga like Gone with the Wind and a “trashy” historical romance like Jane Eyre was considered. I’m very pleased with those as recommendations and comparisons!

I’ll let you know how the book/s turns out when I get my greedy hands on them and am able to relish in their world again. I can’t wait to see how close the television series is to the books, if the characters will be as endearing or irritating, if I fly through the chapters to find out what will happen next, if I forget to breathe while reading parts…