Jamaica Inn
by Daphne Du Maurier
Buy on AmazonHer mother's dying request takes Mary Yellan on a sad journey across the bleak moorland of Cornwall to reach Jamaica Inn, the home of her Aunt Patience. With the coachman's warning echoing in her memory, Mary arrives at a dismal place to find Patience a changed woman, cowering from her overbearing husband, Joss Merlyn. Affected by the Inn's brooding power, Mary is thwarted in her attention to reform her aunt, and unwillingly drawn into the dark deeds of Joss and his accomplices. And, as she struggles with events beyond her control, Mary is further thrown by her feelings for a man she dare not trust....
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"I was in my later teens when I discovered Daphne du Maurier , an author I still love today. Frenchman’s Creek is usually the obvious romantic choice for young adults, but the book that gripped me most was the dark, gothic and truly scary Jamaica Inn . The way Du Maurier uses setting to create atmosphere and immerse you in the action is fantastic. Bodmin Moor in Cornwall is truly another character in the book – all that mud and sweeping rain! The weather shadows every key moment, isolating the reader almost as much as the heroine, Mary Yellan. Mary is made of sterner stuff, however, and ultimately the freedom the landscape offers is transformative. It is, but we have to remember local people were starving. Smuggling and salvaging what washed ashore meant survival. Of course wrecking was horrible – but nothing is ever black or white, and the subject makes for thrilling reading. Absolutely. Even the thick mists that descend around them is like a physical presence. It cloaks everything with a menace and secrecy that the reader must stumble through."
Novels for Young Readers Set in Wild Places · fivebooks.com