It’s quite a contrast for Mary, who is accustomed to “the warm and soft climate of Helford, / with its high hedges and tall protecting trees. There was a separate entrance to the bar, at the side of the house, and, though the room was empty now, there was something heavy in the atmosphere reminiscent of the last time it was full: a lingering taste of old tobacco, the sour smell of drink, and an impression of warm, unclean humanity packed one against the other on the dark stained benches.”

“It was a dark, rambling place, with long passages and unexpected rooms. So Mary is relatable readers are sympathetic to the difficulties, the stressful adjustments that will ensue. “‘I promise,’ said Mary, but her heart was heavy and distressed at the thought of a future so insecure and changed, with all that she had known and loved gone from her, and not even the comfort of familiar trodden ground to help her through the bad days when they came.” From the book’s title, everyone knows from the start how Mary’s mother will fare. When her mother is ill, she exacts a promise from her only daughter if she dies, Mary is to live with her aunt (her mother’s sister) at Jamaica Inn. In one sense, it’s easy to fall into Jamaica Inn: this story of Mary Yellan, who is pulled away from everything she knows and holds dear, pushed into unfamiliar territory with sadness at her back.

Now, at last, a great reason to sort out this muddle! That’s why I started watching the 2014 mini-series of Jamaica Inn because I thought I’d read the book already but, I hadn’t, so I stopped watching after the first episode. I’ve muddled Frenchman’s Creek (1941) and Jamaica Inn for years.

Jamaica inn author