Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor

Rating:
Summary: A thundering good tale!
Review: This book was a one hit wonder for Blackmore, but it's a classic in its own right. It's a book that concentrates on one little spot in the British Isles, and we get a thorough picture of that spot. The setting is in Exmoor. The story is about a maiden who preserves her purity of mind and body in a quite impossible environment. Lorna had been kidnapped as a child, but in spite of the barbarous surroundings that she grew up in, she manages to preserve her identity and her honour. Blackmore creates great characters. His John Ridd is brilliant. He encompasses all that is right and good deep within the English gentleman's psyche. Blackmore has a way of writing about animals too, that is quite unique. His account of Betty Muxworthy feeding the pigs is wonderful. This book is certainly worth a read at any time.

Rating:
Summary: A compelling love story
Review: This has to be one of my favorite classics. I originally read a short children's version when I was in school. I loved it so much, I had to get my hands on a 'real' copy. I now own several different versions of the book, including an original copy. It's about a farm boy growing up in the moors of england, who meets a young lady living with a band of outlaws. It becomes his mission to revenge the murder of his father and save his love from the clutches of an evil family. Includes romance, adventure, and a mystery surrounding the haunting noises that plague the lands...

Rating:
Summary: Heroine AND harvest, Damsel AND ducks.
Review: Yes, this is a romance, complete with endangered heroine, noble highway man, political intrigue, and unlikely last minute reprievals from doom. BUT the hero and narrator, John Ridd, is a farmer; big, strong, no brighter than he ought to be, benevolent, and practical. The fabulous valley of the Doones is firmly ensconced in the everyday Exmoor of 18th century England: the stock must be fed, the hay must be made, the farm-hands managed. In this world it's wonderfully right that the only farmer in Exmoor strong and determined enough to rescue his entire flock from the worst blizzard in years should also rescues lovely Lorna from the vicious Doone clan. Better yet, he also views both extraordinary feats as his simple duty, and describes their despatch more in terms of expedient (the mechanics of snow-shoes, the failure of the signals arranged between the parted lovers) than in flowery language of the heart. Lorna Doone is a paragon of 19th century Romances; Blackmore's writing displays, at their best, the literary qualities sought by his contemporaries: read this book for novel adventure, copiously detailed incident, moral improvement and wonder. You'll wish for an entire winter by the fire-place in order to savor it fully.