Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier

Jamaica Inn

by Daphne Du Maurier

When Mary Yellan, a farmer's daughter from Helford, obeyed her mother's dying wish and went to live with her aunt near Bodmin, she had no idea that her attractive, laughing relative was married to the landlord of Jamaica Inn, miles from anywhere on Bodmin Moor. As the coachman warned her: 'Respectable folk don't go to Jamaica any more'. And as her evil giant of an uncle soon told her, after a few glasses of brandy: 'I'm not drunk enough to tell you why I live in this God-forgotten spot, and why I'm the landlord of Jamaica Inn.' In her first famous novel Daphne du Maurier transferred the world of the Bronte's to Cornwall in the early nineteenth century. In the dark events along the Cornish coast, in the ugly brutality of Joss Merlyn, and in the enigmatic character of his brother Jem, the reader gets an exciting foretaste of her next novel, Rebecca.

Reviewed by brokentune on

3 of 5 stars

Share
I finished Jamaica Inn in the early hours of this morning and spent most of today thinking about whether I should give it 3 or 4 stars and whether to add a review – there have been so many already, and so much of what can be said about JI has been said:

There’s a lot of scope for discussion whether the characters are too simple, whether the plot is predictable, whether Du Maurier had found her voice as a writer, yet (even though JI is not her debut and Rebecca was published only two years later), and whether JI merits the praise it seems to get.

It’s a story set in the early 19th century, it’s gothic, it’s formulaic, atmospheric, and it’s possibly also well represented by other adjectives ending in “–ic”....

What I would like to add, though, is that despite its short-comings it is a good read (- well it kept me awake anyway).

I was drawn into the story and the setting right from the start of the book and I had to double check the publication date as it was strange to read a story that written around the same time as In Dubious Battle, The ABC Murders, or Mephisto but had the feel of a Bronte novel. I guess this is where Du Maurier’s ability to create a time warp that will absorb a reader really shines.

Of course there are the occasional lapse in good judgement of her protagonists and the unbelievable – literally unbelievable – good luck of the would-be-detective Jem, but the quite extraordinary addition of the nihilist attitude in both extremes of the local society - the wreckers and the local clergy (two sides of the same coin)- is entertaining enough to forgive for such obvious flaws.

The part of the book I found irritating was the ending. I wish it had ended before the rescue party arrives.

Last modified on

Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 22 June, 2013: Finished reading
  • 22 June, 2013: Reviewed