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| Jamaica Inn | 
 enlarge | Author: Daphne Du Maurier
Creator: Sarah Dunant
Publisher: Virago Press Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
Buy Used: £1.50
You Save: £6.49 (81%)
New (30) from £2.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 3214
Media: Paperback
Edition: New edition
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 4.9 x 0.9
ISBN: 1844080390
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9781844080397
ASIN: 1844080390
Publication Date: March 6, 2003
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: New, unread.
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| Customer Reviews:
A must read September 22, 2007
An excellent read! An atmospheric, gothic and compelling narrative. The only slightly unsatisfactory elements of the narrative were the rather scant exploration of the character and motives of Francis Davey and the rather hurried account of his demise.
I usually get bored after a few chapters but.... May 24, 2007
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
I have not finished this book yet, but felt I had to say something about it. I do not normally finish books, only get as far as the third or fourth chapter and then pick up another. To be on chapter 7 and only starting it on the weekend, this being Thursday evening I can safely say I am hooked. Jamaica Inn is atmospheric, scary and leaves you wanting to read it all through the night even though you know you should put the book down and go to sleep. I am going to read more of Daphne's books. I have been to Bodmin and Cornwall itself on my last holiday and visited the Inn and that was before I picked up the book, I definately want to visit Cornwall again. Do yourself a good turn and buy this book and others by dear Daphne. I can only give four stars as I have not got to the end yet.
Yo ho ho May 2, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Jamaica Inn is not in the same league as "Rebecca" and some of the actions of the heroine seem slightly unlikely. However the descriptions of Bodmin Moor are evocative and the relatively straight forward plot makes for a good page turner especially suitable for a Cornwallian holiday. One word of warning though - I would not read the introduction until afterwards as it gives too much away; why publishers do this I do not know!
 Brooding, mysterious, brilliant... February 28, 2007
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
I defy anyone not to be gripped by the opening chapter where the heroine, Mary Yellan is travelling to Jamaica Inn by stagecoach on a winter's night battling the wind and rain. Like her other books Du Maurier draws the setting, Bodmin Moor in Cornwall brilliantly and this coupled with a feisty heroine and a giant rogue of a villain in her uncle, the landlord of Jamaica Inn all make for a great read. The Inn itself, hinted at early on as being a sinister place, does not disappoint and I was totally drawn into the dark goings on as Mary slowly unravels its secrets and that of her uncle.
Rebecca is better but this is still an excellent book and will keep you hooked to the twistingly brilliant ending. Faultless writing by, in my opinion, the master storyteller.
Passionate romance set in Victorian Cornwall January 25, 2007
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Like Wuthering Heights, the scenery and setting in this brooding book are extremely important, creating and refelcting mood. Here, rather than the Yorkshire Moors, it's Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. Within these bleak and hostile moors sits the solitary and isolated inn of the title (still there in real life), presided over by the frightening and cruel drunkard, Joss Merlyn. But is he the real villain, or is he just being used by an even more powerful force?
What I particulalty like about this book is that it's set in Victorian times, reads very much like a Victiorian novel, but is not blunted by that era's strict censorship (Jamaica Inn was published in the - slightly- freer 1930s). Mary and Jem actually do frolic quite suggestively, despite not being married, and this behaviour is not damned by the narrative.
It is interesting that Hitchcock made films of three Du Maurier works. As well as Jamaica Inn, The Birds and Rebecca are also based on her stories. He must have been a fan.
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