This month’s book, Jamaica Inn, arrived just before Halloween which proved to be entirely apposite given the slightly spooky ambience to much of the book. The opening scene with a coach speeding through darkness and bad weather, is sufficiently redolent of Dracula to make a perfect fit for the season.

What Du Maurier is offering here is classic gothic fiction with an added twist of an unexpected romance. The basic story is that Mary Yellan goes to live with her aunt Patience and uncle Joss at the rather forbidding Jamaica Inn. As she had been warned by the coachman in the opening scene this had a bad reputation and received few visitors. Mary quickly discovers that Jamaica Inn is the centre of a major smuggling and ‘wrecking’ operation apparently led by her brutal uncle Joss. However, she remains determined to rescue her aunt from this situation. Although this proves difficult, she had reckoned without falling in love with Jem Merlyn, despite his being as untrustworthy as Joss.

Jamaica Inn is well enough known that I knew something of the background of the novel, and I had naively assumed that there would be more similarities with Frenchman’s creek. In fact, these are both rather different stories. Having read the latter book some years ago in another reading group, I was struck by the boldness and daring of Du Maurier’s female characters, and there are certainly similarities between the Dora of Frenchman’s creek, and Mary of the present book. Likewise, its easy to see that the geography of Cornwall means it is well suited to tales of smuggling and piracy.

While I believe that Frenchman’s Creek had the better developed plot of the two books, Jamaica Inn feels the more realistic with particularly well drawn characters. The central character, Mary, has much to admire: her courage, the desire to see justice done and willingness to stand by her aunt Patience. On the other hand, while Joss is almost entirely abhorrent, the author has given him a plausible history: the abused child turns into the abuser, together with history repeating itself through the whole Merlyn family. While I can’t imagine many readers feeling much concern for Joss, he is a more complex character as demonstrated by his more honest moments when drink has loosened his tongue, and the expectation that someone should have stepped in to save him from himself! Similarly, Patience makes the perfect partner, demonstrating the loyalty which is, sadly, common in victims of domestic abuse.

Although the plot is comparatively simple, it is entirely adequate and the romance between Mary and Jem Merlyn provides some interest, while presenting Mary with something of a dilemma. Equally, the latter scenes provided a twist which was not entirely expected. Given some of the subject matter, it is perhaps surprising that there is not more action like the scene on Christmas Eve when Mary is forced to witness the wrecking operation. However, this does at least spare the reader some of the details, while it was equally important to the story that Mary shouldn’t discover too many details at an early stage.

While admiring Mary’s resourcefulness, I was rather surprised by her lack of thought on occasions. While careful not to give too many secrets away to Jem (who probably knew more than he admitted anyway), she was remarkably open with the vicar of Altarnun, despite his rather creepy manner, and his remarkably suspicious departure immediately before the attack on the coach (p. 170). Equally, Mary made many errors having managed to escape from the coach, only to fall into the hands of the pedlar (p.181). Admittedly she is conscious of some of these mistakes, so perhaps the desire to find out more proved to be the stronger impulse.

In fairness, Mary probably felt that she had little option but to trust the vicar of Altarnun, but even though she was aware of his unusual manners, there was little thought given to questioning his motives. Certainly by the time that Mary met him for the second time, only to be attacked shortly after he left, my suspicions were aroused. I thought the illustration depicting his congregation as sheep was a delightful piece of imagery (p. 261); after all, the Bible talks about separating the sheep from the goats, and ordained ministers are often seen as shepherds tending their ‘flock’. The implication being that, all too often, independent thought is not encouraged in the Church. He also makes some good points when he says: “The silence is gone, even on the hills. I thought to find it in the Christian Church, but the dogma sickened me”. Many would probably agree, witness the increasing interest in ‘alternative’ religions which promise a stronger connection with the natural world. While I might have had considerable sympathy for a priest who had lost their faith, the author destroyed that with his involvement as the leader of the whole smuggling operation. Of course, whether “the old pagan barbarism” was indeed “naked and clean” (p. 277) remains a matter of debate.

In summary, Jamaica Inn shares some of the features common to Du Maurier’s other work, such as bold and resourceful female characters. In comparison with Frenchman’s Creek, this is a rather different story, with a more realistic (if less action packed) plot and well drawn characters. While there is much to admire in Mary, I personally found her relationship with Jem to be surprising and out of character, but perhaps that’s just me. Similarly, the Vicar of Altarnun makes a thought provoking character, even if his involvement makes him rather less admirable. Overall, despite a few minor quibbles, this is a well written book which I enjoyed despite having previously struggled with the genre.