#trevanions love for his SON ;-;

[corsetsandlemons]

This should have been the last day of the kinkmeme. But me and the other moderators decided that it’s easy enough to just keep it open. 

So the Corsets&Lemon anonymous kinkmeme is just going to stay open

YAY!

You can go here and see if you want to leave a prompt or fullfill one! Or just if you want to lurk and read some of the great stuff that’s already there!

Here a list of the AMAZING stuff that has been created up until this point. 

Much ado about Nothing - Beatrice/Benedick hate sex (art)

Macbeth - Lady Macbeth/Macbeth (tw: violence) femme!dom with blood play (art) 

Romeo and Juliet - Juliet Capulet/Romeo Montague (tw: necrophilia) Romeo wants to die while he fucks his dead Juliet one last time. (complete fic)

King Lear - Goneryl/ Regan/Cordelia (tw: incest) flogging (art) 

Romeo and Juliet - Juliet Capulet/Romeo Montague (tw: underage) mutual masturbation (art)

Romeo and Juliet - Friar Lawrence/Juliet Capulet(tw: underage) Priest kink (art)

Othello - Othello/Desdemona/Iago Threesome (bisexual!Iago) (art)

The Merchant of Venice - Antonio/Shylock(tw: dub-con) Shylock is getting a pound of flesh nonetheless (complete fic)

Roxana: The Fortunate Mistress - Amy/ Mr.-----/Susan(tw: dub-con) Roxana(Susan) coaxes/forces her maid Amy into sex with her live-in love (complete fic) 

rpf - Mary Shelley/Percy Bysshe Shelley/Lord Byron Exhibitionism (art) 

Wuthering Heights - Catherine Earnshaw/Heathcliff (tw: underage) first teenage fumblings in the moor (complete fic)

Le Comte de Monte-Cristo/The Count of Monte-Cristo - Albert De Morcerf/The Count Masturbating/Sexual Fantasies (complete fic)

Pride and Prejudice - Elizabeth Bennet/Fitzwilliam Darcy Christening every single room of pemberley. (complete fic)

Boule de suif - Boule de Suif/Cornudet He feels horribly and he tries to make up for it. (complete fic)

I Promessi Sposi/The Bethroted - Cardinal Federico Borromeo/Innominato Neck Kissing (complete fic)

I Promessi Sposi/The Bethroted - Agnese Mondella/Perpetua Distracting Perpetua (complete fic)

I Promessi Sposi/The Bethroted - Bortolo Castagneri/Lucia Mondella/Renzo Tramaglino(tw: incest) Post-canon threesome (complete fic)

I Promessi Sposi/The Bethroted - Conte Zio/Padre Provinciale Less standard methods of payment (complete fic)

Jane Eyre - Jane Eyre/Edward Rochester hair pulling (complete fic)

I Promessi Sposi/The Bethroted - Renzo Tramaglino/Bortolo Castagneri(tw: incest) hurt/comfort (complete fic)

I Promessi Sposi/The Bethroted - Cardinal Federico Borromeo/Innominato body worship (complete fic)

I Promessi Sposi/The Bethroted - Cardinal Federico Borromeo/Innominato bathing together (complete fic)

Wuthering Heights - Hareton Earnshaw/Catherine Linton Praise kink (complete fic)

Notre-Dame de Paris - Esmeralda/Fleur de Lys Fleur De Lys wants to see with her own eyes the dancer for which her fiancé has lost his mind. (complete fic)

La lupa - Gnà Pina/Nanni first time (complete fic)

The Goblin Market - Laura/Lizzie(tw: incest) Sucking on something sweeter than fruit (complete fic)

The Three Musketeers series/ The d'Artagnan Romances - D'artagnan/Rochefort They did learn to respect each other (complete fic)

Pinocchio - Blue Fairy/Geppetto(tw: dub-con) Punishing the father for the son's misdeeds (complete fic) 

Frankenstein - Creature/Elizabeth Lavenza/Victor Frankenstein wedding night threesome (art) (Direct link) 

Frankenstein - Creature/Victor Frankenstein Giving him a good fuck (art) 

I Promessi Sposi/The Bethroted - Lucia Mondella/Gertrude Strap on (art) 

Jane Eyre - Bertha Rochester/Edward Rochester (tw: non-con) Locked in the attic (art)

Jane Eyre/Wuthering Heights - Edward Rochester/Heathcliff Brooding sex (art)

Pride and Prejudice - Elizabeth Bennet/Fitzwilliam Darcy Leaving the cravat on (art) 

Pride and Prejudice - Elizabeth Bennet/Fitzwilliam Darcy Pregnant baby bump (art)

Pride and Prejudice - Elizabeth Bennet/Fitzwilliam Darcy Sexually frustrated dry humping (art) 

Pride and Prejudice - Elizabeth Bennet/Caroline Bingley(tw: dub-con) Caroline seduces Elizabeth away (art) 

Ligeia - Ligeia/Rowena Trevanion ghost sex (art) 

Alice in wonderland/Through the looking-glass - Alice/Others (tw: dub-con, underage, bestiality) sex pollen (complete fic)

Alice in wonderland/Through the looking-glass - Gryphon/Mock Turtle (tw: bestiality) Lobster Quadrille (complete fic)

Carmilla - Carmilla/Laura(tw: non-con) Sleep sex (complete fic)

Christabel - Christabel/Geraldine What they did that night (complete fic)

David Copperfield - Little Em'ly/other Little Em'ly--has an educational encounter with a lady who saves Fallen Women. (complete fic) 

Dracula - Mina Murray/Lucy Westenra (tw: dub-con)Lucy feeds on Mina, turns her into a vampire (complete fic)

Frankenstein - Creature/Elizabeth Lavenza frankenstein meets a paradise lost (complete fic) 

I Promessi Sposi/The Bethroted - Cardinal Federico Borromeo/Innominato Soiling kink (complete fic)

I Promessi Sposi/The Bethroted - Cardinal Federico Borromeo/Innominato Priest kink (complete fic)

I Promessi Sposi/ The Bethroted - Cardinal Federico Borromeo/Innominato Soiling kink (complete fic)

I Promessi Sposi/ The Bethroted - Cardinal Federico Borromeo/Innominato Innominato crying during sex (complete fic) 

I Promessi Sposi/ The Bethroted - Cardinal Federico Borromeo/Innominato Confession/priest kink (complete fic)

I Promessi Sposi/The Bethroted - Lucia Mondella/Gertrude Corruption of the innocent. (complete fic)

I Promessi Sposi/The Bethroted - Lucia Mondella/Gertrude Strap on

I Promessi Sposi/ The Bethroted - Lucia Mondella/Gertrude Using a crucifix (complete fic)

I Promessi Sposi/ The Bethroted - Lucia Mondella/Renzo Tramaglino First Time (complete fic)

Jane Eyre - Bertha Rochester/Edward Rochester (tw: non-con) Locked in the attic (complete fic) 

Jane Eyre - Jane Eyre/Edward Rochester first wedding night (complete fic)

Pride and Prejudice - Elizabeth Bennet/Georgiana Darcy/Fitzwilliam Darcy (tw: incest) Daddy/mommy kink (complete fic)

Pride and Prejudice - Georgiana Darcy/Fitzwilliam Darcy (tw: incest, underage) Darcy comforts Georgiana (complete fic)

rpf - Friedrich Engels/Karl Marx “we have nothing to loose but our chains” (complete fic)

Strange Case if Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde - Edward Hyde/Gabriel John Utterson(tw: underage) seduced by your old friend's nasty younger boyfriend (complete fic)

The Count of Monte Cristo - Eugenie Danglars/Louise d'Armilly Eating out her friend in the carriage (complete fic)

The Little Mermaid - Little Mermaid/Sea Witch the Sea Witch offers the Little Mermaid true immortality (complete fic)

The Secret Garden - Colin Craven/Mary Lennox/Dickon Sowerby (tw: incest) Colin Likes to Watch Mary and Dickon (complete fic)

The Secret Garden - Colin Craven/Mary Lennox/Dickon Sowerby (tw: underage, incest) Colin Mary and Dickon play doctor (complete fic)

The Secret Garden - Mary Lennox/Dickon Sowerby(tw: underage) Mary and Dickon celebrate spring in the garden (complete fic)

The Three Musketeers series/ The d'Artagnan Romances - Athos/D'artagnan Reunion sex (complete fic) 

The Three Musketeers series/ The d'Artagnan Romances - Athos/D'artagnan Reunion sex (complete fic)

The Vampyre - Aubrey/Lord Ruthven(tw: dub-con) spiralling down a vortex of attraction and loathing (complete fic)

Treasure Island - Jim Hawkins/Long John Silver(tw: dub-con, underage) Silver teaches his pupil how to be a wicked pirate (complete fic)

Vingt mille lieues sous les mers/ Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea - Pierre Aronnax/Captain Nemo(tw: bestiality) Tentacle porn (complete fic) 

[xxsparksxx]

Do you think it was fair of Clowance to place so much of the blame for Jeremy (my favourite, his mother's son, the sweetest, most gentle Poldark there ever was) on Cuby? I can't remember if it was the same in the books, but at least in the show Dwight joined the navy primarily to escape his heartbreak over Caroline, and no one blamed her for that. I know that Clowance is deeply grieving her brother, but it seemed cruel to treat the also grieving Cuby the way she did.

I’m sorry this took so long to answer, anon.

Do I think it’s fair? No, of course not. Of course it’s not fair. And you’re right, she absolutely blames Cuby for Jeremy’s death:

Few also knew of, though a few suspected, her distaste for Jeremy’s widow, Cuby. The relationship between Jeremy and Clowance had been very close – much closer than an ordinary sibling friendship – a deep affection and affinity almost always disguised as banter. Jeremy had tried to protect her from Stephen until he was completely convinced of Stephen’s sincerity. Then he had met Cuby, and Clowance thought only she had been fully aware of his total commitment, an absorption compared with which no one else in the world mattered. Well, that was all right as far as it went. But she had seen his utter distress, amounting sometimes, she felt, almost to collapse, when Cuby had coldbloodedly accepted the fact that her family desired her to marry Valentine Warleggan. It had almost changed his nature and in the end induced him to join the army to get away from Cornwall and forget Cuby Trevanion. What Clowance could not forget was that had it not been for Cuby Jeremy might still be alive. She often wondered how her mother and father could continue to accept her.

But people feel things that aren’t fair all the time. Clowance is struggling with having lost the brother who was, as the above shows, closer to her than anyone else. She’s struggling to make sense of something that cannot ever make sense - the death of a young person. To her, Cuby is what drove Jeremy to join the army and therefore she is responsible for Jeremy’s death. Full stop.

However, there are other things going on in Clowance’s heart that have some bearing on it. She’s also just lost her husband, and Stephen’s dying gave her more than the ‘usual’ heartbreak of widowhood. She also discovered, from his son, that her marriage with Stephen was never actually legal, because his ‘first’ wife was still alive at the point at which Clowance married him! So she’s got a double or even a triple whammy of grief. And Demelza puts it very well when, speaking to Ross about Clowance, she says this:

‘She has changed, Ross. I – I think she has been deeply injured – of course by her bereavement, of course, but I suspicion something more than that. It is as if she no longer has confidence in her own judgment – as if she is confused as well as desperately heart-sad. I cannot make it out . . . She is harder than she used to be. I feel she will need careful handling – specially careful handling.’‘By us?’‘I hope so. And by life . . .’

It’s unfair, but it’s not unnatural that Clowance, with such deep wounds, would, consciously or unconsciously, focus much of her anguish on a single person - the person who, in her view, drove Jeremy to his death.

In terms of comparing the situation with that of Dwight and Caroline......I think the difference is in terms of the relationships involved. Ross and Demelza may feel that it was Caroline who drives Dwight into the navy, but although they’re all close friends, that is what they are: friends. Not family. The relationships are different; there’s no childhood bond, no sense of...I sometimes feel that Clowance is almost jealous of Jeremy’s attachment to Cuby, jealous that something is taking him away from her. Not in a major way, not in a bad way, but the sibling relationship really is so different to a friendship, and I think Ross and Demelza a) don’t feel so deeply injured by Dwight’s decision as Clowance does by Jeremy’s, and b) become quite quickly aware of their own indebtedness to Caroline. And, of course, of Caroline’s enduring love for Dwight. Anyway. The answer is no, I don’t think it’s fair, but I don’t think it’s a particularly unnatural response for her to have.

[letterfromtrenwith]

Remember

A fic featuring Ross & George for @princessrococo for the prompt ‘remember’ 

This is a future fic, AU for both the books & show, but mixes in some characters and events from canon, and includes some OCs. 

~

Lady Elizabeth Warleggan

September 1764 – March 1810

Sir George Warleggan

April 1759 – August 1820

Beloved parents of Geoffrey Charles Poldark, Valentine,

Ursula, Clare, Susannah, Nicholas and Flora 

Reunited Hereafter

 Flora. That was the name of the youngest girl. Ross hadn’t been able to recall it when he’d watched her walk morosely behind the hearse, face hidden by her bonnet, clinging to the hand of her eldest sister.

He had not been welcome at the funeral, of course, but he’d found himself standing on the hill overlooking the road to the Church, just as he’d done ten years earlier when they’d buried Elizabeth. Little Flora had not been there then, just two or three years old when her mother died.

Of course, this time, there was no George at the head of the procession, looking smaller and older than Ross had ever seen him. He had stood alone at the graveside long after everyone else had left, as if he could not bear to be parted from Elizabeth that final time. Ross had never told Demelza where he had gone that day, fearing upsetting her, but he had held her especially close when he returned.

He knew why he had gone to see Elizabeth’s funeral, why he had visited her grave in secret – he may not have loved her, not in the way he had once thought, but he could not help but still hold her in affection, although he was sure she had long had none for him. He was unable even to recall the last conversation they had shared. It had probably been years before her death, which had been sudden and shocking. Dwight had told Ross that she was ill and then, just weeks later, she was gone. Dead at forty-five.

In some ways, it was almost a surprise that George had outlived Elizabeth by so many years. Her loss had diminished him somehow, especially from the view of someone who had once been his enemy. For almost two years after her death, George had become virtually a recluse, refusing social invitations, barely seen in public. Geoffrey Charles – returned from his own brushes with death on the Continent – had dealt with almost all of his business affairs.

Ross could not lie and say that it did not hurt a little to see his cousin’s son listed amongst the Warleggan children, but it had to be Geoffrey Charles who had commissioned this new headstone. He had lead the mourners, been the first to lay hands upon the coffin as it was taken out of the carriage. Ross had felt his chest tighten at the sight of Valentine taking his place with the other pall-bearers; it was easy to forget, sometimes, the possibility…Over the years, George, Elizabeth and Geoffrey Charles had variously warned Ross to stay away from the boy, with differing degrees of force. George had claimed Valentine as his own, and for the sake of everyone, it had always seemed for the best to simply accept that. How Geoffrey Charles had discovered the truth, Ross had never known, but it had hardened his nephew against him.

Valentine had a son now, too, born just recently, and named George, Ross had heard. He wondered if the elder George had ever seen his namesake. The child’s mother had been at the funeral – Selena, Ross thought her name was – holding the arm of her sister-in-law, the Spanish woman Geoffrey Charles had married. Amadora, or some such. She had visited Nampara with Geoffrey Charles once or twice, but Ross tended not to stay for these visits.

Nor for those of Drake and Morwenna Carne and their children, also present at the funeral, Drake behind Geoffrey Charles as they carried the coffin into the church. His brother-in-law’s elopement with the Chynoweth girl had caused a rift for some time, but Demelza had refused to accept losing her brother again after they had been apart for so many years once before. Ross and Morwenna still had no particular liking for one another, but that could be borne for the sake of their children, cousins as they were.

Two of Ross’ own children had attended George’s funeral. The Trevanions, the family of Jeremy’s wife, Cuby, had been friends of the Warleggans. Jeremy stood out among the mourners in his dress uniform, black band around the sleeve. Sadly, it had been Ross’ first glimpse of Clowance for a while, watching her put her arm around Ursula Warleggan – what was the name of the man the girl had married? – who was a particular friend of hers. Ross could not say he had ever approved of his children associating with the Warleggans, but George had never seemed to have any such reservations, and Lord knew Ross and Clowance had fallen out over a deal more, so he’d never made much of a fuss about it.

As he’d watched the black-clad crowd gather around the grave – the same one most of them had stood over ten years ago – Ross had again wondered why he was there. He certainly had no reason to mourn George, and yet his death had been something of a blow nevertheless. Especially as it had come with even less warning than Elizabeth’s. It was said that he had gone to bed one night with a headache and simply never woken up again.

Perhaps it was the abruptness of it which bothered Ross somehow. According to Dwight, the toll Elizabeth’s death had taken on George seemed to be primarily emotional, and he had been in rather good health for a man of his age. Or, it could be that with George gone, Ross was the only one left of those he had known as a boy.

He and George had most certainly never been friends, even when they were at school, but in a way the other man had been one of the last remnants of a certain time in Ross’ life. Everyone else was gone – Francis, Elizabeth, Ross’ childhood playmates from Nampara, even Prudie and Zacky. Only Verity remained, and she was far away now, having followed her son to Scotland after Captain Blamey’s death.

As he looked at the newly erected headstone these few days later, he still could not say exactly what had drawn him there. The grave was covered in flowers; most were wilting now, but there were fresh ones, as if they had just been laid. Who had placed them, he wondered? One of George’s daughters? Morwenna? Amadora?

When Ross considered all of the important events in his life – being shipped to Virginia, meeting Demelza, the births of his children, that terrible night at Trenwith, and everything else besides - somehow that moment when he was eleven or so, and Francis had introduced him to a pale, nervous boy called George, found its way into his mind. Considering everything that had occurred as a result of it, perhaps it deserved the significance he seemed to unconsciously wish to give it.

Then again, maybe it was not so complicated as he thought. Maybe the reason that he found himself preoccupied with the sudden death of a man his age, of a similar line of work, a husband and father and grandfather, who he had known most of his own life, lay not on the headstone in front of him, but engraved upon the stone archway at the entrance of the churchyard:

Memento Mori

[swatch-dogs-and-diet-cokeheads]

Hi! I saw your gifset about Jeremy Poldark and wonder if you don't mind telling me what happens to him in the books? I'm curious. I heard that Ross is an absent father to Jeremy? Do you know anywhere where I could read the book summaries? or book character overview? Thanks.

Hi! Absolutely ^^. I’ll try to just summarize some of the key things, otherwise I could go on FOREVER, because Jeremy is one of my favorite characters in the novels, and lots of complex stuff happens in his character arc xD. That being said, if there’s anything you’d like extra detail on, I’d be happy to answer any additional questions!

For anyone else who reads this, BE PREPARED FOR BIG SPOILERS.

Jeremy’s story starts out with him leading a happy, relatively simple life with his family. Although Winston Graham does little to exemplify his relationship with either of his little sisters, Clowance and Isabella-Rose, he is meant to get along with both of them, especially Clowance. Likewise, he has an extremely close relationship with Demelza, which is shown all the time. She is his most frequent confidant. Thus, Ross is the only immediate family member he has a more turbulent relationship with, and even they get along plenty of the time. Most of their conflict stems from misunderstandings, and the fact that they are very different as people.

Winston Graham never greatly emphasizes Jeremy missing his father, but Ross does spend a great deal of time away. So, it’s a fair enough assumption to make, as they are shown to love one another very much despite their differences, and Jeremy is shown to fear that he is a disappointment to his father. Likewise, the fact that Ross is often absent likely contributes to their misunderstandings, and their mutual struggle to communicate. Ross and Jeremy are never entirely on the same page, but the issues in their relationship are definitely more prevalent earlier in the story, and there are plenty of instances where they are shown to be amiable with one another.

Jeremy is very interested in the development of high pressure steam (as in harnessing steam power in regards to mechanical inventions), and much of his early plot centers around this. He initially learns about the theory and practice of steam in secret, because he believes that his father would not approve of it. Ross had, in the past, expressed the belief that it was a dangerous profession. So, because Jeremy is pursuing his passion in secret, Ross and Demelza worry that he is not interested in doing anything important with his life. This bothers Ross in particular, as it’s confusing and disappointing to him, being a man of great enterprise himself.

This acts as its own temporary wedge between Ross and Jeremy, as Ross thinks his firstborn son has little sense of responsibility and initiative, and Jeremy feels that he must conceal his true passion from his father. However, this is a matter they eventually discuss, resolve, and are better off for, as they both gain a better understanding of the other.

Early on in his story arc, Jeremy meets a young woman named Cuby Trevanion, whom he is instantly (and I do mean instantly) taken with, and soon falls in love with. However, they are unable to marry, as Cuby’s family has accumulated an enormous debt constructing their family castle, Caerhays (which is a real place!), and it’s vital that Cuby should marry for money. This is a condition perpetrated by Cuby’s elder brother, John Trevanion, but she fully supports it herself as well.

Jeremy is devastated by this, and much of his daily life becomes soured because of it. After many months of agonizing and fluctuating in his levels of acceptance, Jeremy eventually learns that Cuby is to be married to his cousin by marriage (and biological half-brother), Valentine Warleggan. Even though he had few hopes of marrying Cuby himself, this greatly upsets Jeremy anew, and results in him robbing a coach carrying money belonging to the Warleggan Bank, along with two of his friends, Paul Kellow and Stephen Carrington.

His motivations for doing this are never thoroughly explained in the books, but I believe it can be safely deduced that it was partially to extract vengeance upon the Warleggans, partially because money was the obstacle between himself and Cuby, and partially just as a way of venting and channeling his devastation. However, after robbing the coach, Jeremy is incredibly disillusioned by the crime that his love for Cuby brought him to, and he becomes temporarily disgusted with it, and makes no attempt to invest the money so that he might make enough to propose to Cuby himself.

Several months later, Jeremy joins the army, partly because he is still disturbed by the crime he committed, and partly because he still cannot let go of his love for Cuby, who remains engaged to Valentine. However, Valentine, who never wanted to marry Cuby (it was an arrangement made between George and John Trevanion), eventually ends the engagement by marrying a woman named Selina Pope in secret. Thus leaving Cuby available again, though her family still wishes her to marry for money, and Jeremy is now in the army. But, after receiving encouragement from Ross while on temporary leave, Jeremy goes to Caerhays and attempts to convince Cuby to marry him, who agrees in the end.

Jeremy and Cuby elope to Brussels, where Jeremy is stationed. Here, they are happily married for about six months, before Jeremy is killed during the battle of Waterloo. He dies with Ross at his side, who was also present for the battle, though they did not fight together. Cuby, who is pregnant with Jeremy’s child, returns to Cornwall with Ross, and lives between Caerhays and Nampara during her pregnancy. She has a daughter who is called Noelle, which is a name Jeremy suggested.

Of course, LOTS of other stuff happens, and there’s lots more detail for the things that I have mentioned, but those are some of the key events. Again, I’m happy to answer any other questions about the books ^^. You can read summaries here, but I haven’t thoroughly read those overviews myself, so I couldn’t say how accurate they are. There’s a lot of false/biased information about the novels online, so I’d advise to take everything with a grain of salt! Even when something isn’t inherently wrong, there’s of course a large element of interpretation and opinion when it comes to reading these books :) Have a good one!

[xxsparksxx]

Aside from Ross and Demelza (I assume) what'a your favorite relationship (romantic or otherwise) of the novels and show, if they'really different.

Sorry to take so long to answer this, anon.

Apart from Ross and Demelza, my favourite favourite favourite relationship in the books is Demelza and Jeremy, after the time jump in the later books.

They’re adorable and kindred spirits and Jeremy knows his mother so well, and Demelza knows that she doesn’t know everything about Jeremy, but she loves him and hides his secrets and protects him and it’s just so perfect. They’re just so perfect.

Favourite extracts/quotations to illustrate the perfection that is them, under the cut to save people who don’t want spoilers. Don’t read if you don’t want to know. Seriously.

Also, this is long, because all the extracts are ones I love far too much to omit, and they all just show so perfectly just why I love them so much.

Okay, this is from The Stranger From the Sea, and it’s just full of love and communication and the sympathy between them:

‘I wonder how your father will think of it.’‘Of privateering?’‘Yes. And Stephen. Stephen’s a great charmer . . . But I knew his first story was not true.’‘Why not?’‘There had been no storm for fourteen days before you picked him up.’‘I can’t remember the weather so far back. How do you? I scarcely remember what it was like yesterday.’Demelza helped herself to the port. She was getting light-headed as well as light-hearted.‘Well, there it is. He says he will be detained in London a few more days – your father, that is – but will return at the earliest possible moment. I wonder if he will see Clowance? They cannot know he is safe returned because he is not staying at his usual lodgings. He is stopping with Mr Canning. Is there a Mrs Canning? I hope they meet. I mean Clowance and your father. Maybe they will cross coaches, as I was afeared to do. Thank God he is back in England. It is hard to stop worrying; you can’t turn it off sudden like a tap. I heard of a man once who survived the most utmost perils and then slipped on a banana skin.’‘Mother,’ said Jeremy.‘Yes, my handsome?’‘Did you send Clowance because . . .’Demelza said: ‘I didn’t send Clowance. She went.’‘It is unlike her.’‘Yes, it is unlike her. But people often do things that are unlike themselves. What is being true to oneself, I wonder? I never know. Sometimes there are three people inside of me, all wishing different. Which is me? What are you like inside, Jeremy? Are you like that? I never know. Sometimes you worry your father. Is there something special you want to do with your life?’‘Maybe.’‘Is there? Do you know what it is?’‘Not exactly. I’m not sure . . . Are we a trouble to you, Mama?’‘Just a little. Just a small matter troublesome. Dear life, what it is to have a family! . . . As for Clowance, you must give her leave to be wayward. She is growing up.’‘We all are.’‘Alas.’‘Why?’‘Why what?’’Why alas?’‘I think I like you all at a certain size. Like hollyhocks. Before the rust starts.’‘Well, thank you, Mother. Your compliments fly on all sides of me.’

Two spirits sort of...sounding in sympathy with each other. They’re so comfortable together. And Jeremy loves her and is proud of her and this next extract (from the same book), in reference to his beloved Cuby and her family, the Trevanions, shows that so absolutely clearly. He’s aware of her remaining insecurity and he makes it absolutely crystal clear that he doesn’t care where she came from and anybody who slighted her, he would refuse to know:

Demelza said: ‘But one thing, Jeremy. Never forget you are a Poldark.’Colley was becoming restive at the prospect of exercise. Jeremy stroked his nose.‘Little likelihood of that.’‘I mean – ’ Demelza hesitated – ‘think of your father’s family in this matter, not of mine. It would be distressful to me if me being a miner’s daughter should hinder your chances.’ So now it was out.Jeremy looked out of the stables, his eyes still blank. ‘You take me to church now and again. We go as a family half a dozen times a year, don’t we?’‘Well?’‘It says there “honour thy father and thy mother.” That’s a commandment I happen to obey. Understand? And no trouble. Not half of it but the whole of it. It gives me no trouble at all. If anyone should think to teach me different, it should not be you.’‘I only mean . . .’‘I know what you only mean. Now go about your business, Mama, and leave me to go about mine. No girl . . .’ He stopped.‘It may not be her. It may be her parents.’Jeremy looked at his mother and smiled wryly.‘That us’ll see, shann’t us.'

I think if there is anybody in the world who loves Demelza as much as Ross does, it’s Jeremy - though in a different way, of course. She is loved and beloved by all her children, and by her friends, but her relationship with Jeremy is special.

When Demelza is pregnant with her fifth child, in The Miller’s Dance, Jeremy is as concerned for her as everyone else (’Did your father send you?’ ‘Concern for your well-being, woman, is not confined to one man. The whole family shares it.’) but I think his present to her, when his younger brother is successfully born, shows just how much he knows her:

...during the days before he left Nampara he had managed to get a wisp of Clowance’s hair, a curl of Isabella-Rose’s, and, with no difficulty at all, a sample of his own. These he had taken in to Truro to Solomon, the silversmith, and had bought a silver locket for £8 and had asked the old man to fit these pieces of hair into the inner compartment of the locket, leaving room at a later stage for a fourth sample. He hadn’t quite known what to buy his mother at this time.

...

‘Mama,’ he said, ‘I have bought you a little present.’She blinked. ‘My dear life. But why?’‘Should I not? You have just most notably added another another Poldark to the world’s population. Isn’t that a cause for celebration?’‘I’m not at all sure! But . . .’Jeremy fumbled in his pocket and took out the silver locket. She accepted it and unwrapped it from its tissue paper. She turned it over and presently pressed the catch.‘My dear life,’ she said again. ‘Jeremy, my lover, it’s so kind . . . I don’t know what to say . . .’‘Say thank you,’ he suggested.‘That I’ll do double-fold. Jeremy, I can’t just at this very moment . . . think of more . . .’She reached up and he kissed her. ‘I was hoping the new boy would be a redhead,’ he said. ‘Add to the colour in the locket. For a change, don’t you think.’ Her vision was blurred. ‘I don’t want a change, Jeremy. Thank you. It was so thoughtful.’

Her children are so important to her, and Jeremy finds the perfect present for her - a present that no doubt she treasures all the more, in later years, after Jeremy’s death.

They’re just so in synch. Even when Jeremy doesn’t tell her what’s happening in his life, and what he’s done - by which I mean, of course, robbing a stagecoach with Stephen Carrington and Paul Kellow - she knows something has happened and gently makes sure that he knows he can talk to her.

‘What happened last Christmas?’‘Christmas?’‘About then. About the time Harry was born.’He turned the flower of a pansy. ‘Something has eaten this one.’‘A caterpillar, it look more like . . . Yes, there it is. Such a little one, too.’He said: ‘You see too much, Mother.’‘It isn’t only caterpillars.’‘I know.’‘But will not tell?’‘Cannot tell. Don’t let it worry you.’‘It does. When my eldest son suddenly seems to – to go adrift. Is it still to do with Cuby?’He flushed. ‘Earlier, yes. I became very disgusted with the way my life was leading, and out of the disgust grew – other things. Now . . . I think I am just going through a bad patch. Give me a little time.’‘You don’t even care so much for Wheal Leisure now, do you.’‘Not as much as I did.’ He changed his tone. ‘But don’t ee fetch on so. Tis no more ’n a touch of the spiritual mulligrubs.’ He patted her on the bottom. ‘All will be well.’‘Not that way.’‘Well, look what you were like when you were carrying Harry! We’ve just spoken of it.’‘But you’re not carrying Harry, my lover. What are you carrying?’There was a plop as he at last found a snail and dropped it in the water.He said: ‘Even in spite of everything, I can talk to you better than anyone else. I wonder why.’‘I can’t think.’‘Wasn’t Father lucky!’ ‘Oh, ho, thank you.'

Of course Demelza finds out, or guesses, about what happened. A combination of Ben Carter bringing her his random find of a loving cup, a newspaper clipping among Jeremy’s papers in his room, and vague warnings away from ‘Kellow’s Ladder’ - plus Demelza’s intuition when it comes to her family - mean she finds out, and the finding out about it is hard for her to bear. She gets drunk:

She said: ‘Are we good parents, Ross? I sometimes wonder. Are we too easy, too easy-going, too sloppy. No discipline, no example, come as you please, go as you please. That’s us. Maybe the old way is best. The strap and the birch and the slipper. Stand in a corner, lock you in your room without supper.’ She swallowed hard, and coughed. ‘Maybe children really love you better that way, look up to you, respect you, listen to what you say. Animals – they’re animals really, are they not. Animals never mind a beating so long as they know what they’ve done wrong and where they stand.’‘Shut up and tell me what has gone wrong!’‘Nothing’s gone wrong.'

She never tells Ross. Not even after Jeremy has died, after a letter from him is delivered to her confessing, finally, the truth. She never tells Ross, and she gets rid of the loving cup, and has already burned the leftover papers and sacks, hidden down Kellow’s Ladder. She protects Jeremy even after his death. She would do almost anything for him, and it’s agony for her to discover that he’s broken the law in such a big way, but they are so close to each other, he is so beloved by her, that to do anything other than protect him is unthinkable. And she and Jeremy never speak of it openly, either, though it’s alluded to, and after his death a letter from him is delivered to her confessing the sin that she had already known.

His death almost cripples her. It ages her and destroys her and she is never quite the same afterwards.

Demelza took to walking across the beach and back, not to get rid of the deadly sickness and the emptiness and the aching – for there was no way out of that – but simply to tire one’s muscles, to exhaust one’s body, so that something was registered on the mind besides grief. Dwight gave her tincture of laudanum at night, but it always wore off at dawn when life was at its lowest and coldest. Then she would stand by the window and cry alone for the loss of her son....All the beauty had gone from Demelza’s face. Perhaps one day it would return, but at present few of her friends in Paris would have taken her for the vivacious, comic, ebullient young woman they had known in February and March.

It ends in tragedy and pain, just as Jeremy had come in a time of tragedy and pain for Demelza. But in between there was so much love, and laughter, and kinship. I don’t think Demelza is as close to any other of her children, though she loves each of them and is close to each of them. There’s just something particularly special about her and Jeremy. Perhaps it’s that he’s the oldest surviving child; perhaps it’s because of when he was born and how important he was to her happiness in his first few years. Perhaps it’s just because somehow they were two people in harmony with each other.

But they’re perfect. Utterly perfect.

So yes, anon. That is my very, very long-winded explanation of why I adore Demelza and Jeremy. SO DAMN MUCH. I cried when he died. I don’t often cry when reading, but I cried when he died.