Jamaica Inn

Firstly, I have to say that I feel very guilty for not having done this in a while, but here it is. I haven't been reading Jamaica Inn for 3 or so months, but I'm going to skip the many books I have read since then and go straight on to the book I'm starting. Anyway, Jamaica Inn. There's not much you can say about it without repeating the same phrase over and over again: "Oh my giddy Aunt Godwin, that was the most amazing book I have ever read, and ever will read!!!". It's true, and there's no point in denying it, for the reasons about to follow.

The style of writing is simply superb. Daphne du Maurier had a wonderful gift for words, and the style and shape and the underlying messages, the little hints, the portrayal of the characters, and most of all, the way of life in whatever circumstance she is describing to us as the reader; it doesn't matter if the main character is the young wife of a  rich aristocrat or a young woman made to help out in a pub involved in smuggling stolen goods, but their way of life is so profoundly communicated to the reader that you can't help but imagine what life must have been like for that particular class of persons.

Daphne du Maurier also has a fantastic gift of weaving a story in one direction and then taking you completely by surprise and veering it another way instead. The twists and turns of Jamaica Inn are unexpected, and yet the little hints given to you by du Maurier all the way throughout the book serves to give you a shiver up your spine, and yet give you the odd feeling that you sort of knew that it was going to happen , and when it does, you are surprised but with a strange mixture of "I told you so" about it. For example, (SPOILER ALERT!! If you haven't read it, stop reading NOW) when we find out the truth about the vicar of Alternun, I realised I knew all along that he wasn't quite right, and not one to be trusted with your darkest, deepest secrets, if you get my drift. I knew as soon as I met him that I wouldn't like Joss Merlin, simply from the daunting description Daphne du Maurier gives us, and, in particular, the clever use of pathetic fallacy, which is the portrayal of foreboding through objects, and in particular, the weather.

The characters are in depth and interesting, just like any other one of Daphne du Maurier's books. The main character is a young woman called Mary Yellan, who is unused to the harsh weather and isolation of her Aunt Patience's house in Cornwall. She is confined to the dim and lonely Jamaica Inn, where she must help her scary uncle Joss to run his bar on a Saturday night. She is rarely allowed out of the house, and on certain nights she must keep her ears covered and not get up out of bed, for beneath her window there is some dodgy dealing going on which she must not reveal or even know about. However, when she gets wind of what's really going on, she runs to her ally, the vicar of Alternun. I shan't tell you what happens next, you'll just have to read it to find out, but all I'll say is that it is a truly fantastic book and whoever is reading this now needs to go and pick up a copy and start reading it. Next I'll be reading A Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James, so keep your eyes peeled for more updates!