Hello Everyone,

Welcome to my tour stop on the “Daphne Du Maurier blog tour”. I hope you’ll enjoy the review :).

I must say that when it comes to classics, I do not have a huge repertoire of “read” books to my name. So when the opportunity to read one presented itself, I jumped on it.

In terms of classics, “Jamaica Inn” was definitely not what I expected. It has a mystery/suspense feel from the first few pages and how the main protagonist comes to be at Jamaica Inn happens so quickly that the reader delves right away in the thick of the story which in itself is very different from the classics I have come across.

Going back to our main character Mary Yellan; she is a 23 year old young woman bereaved by the recent loss of her mother, who was also her role model and responsible for the strength and sense of independence we see in Mary throughout the novel. So when Mary moves in to the infamous Jamaica Inn, she not only has to deal with its tainted reputation, but also with the Landlord, her uncle Joss Merlyn, known criminal who has successfully evaded the law thus far.

One thing is for sure, this novel is very well written, however I found that I much preferred the different and very distinct voices the author created for each of the characters compared to the narration of the several landscapes Jamaica Inn was surrounded with, as I felt that they were overly descriptive at times and slowed down to story quite a bit.

I also enjoyed how the plot developed and how the story building was paced. Just enough clues at the right time, so that the reader is kept interested.

My only criticism however has to be the ending and who the main villain of the story ends up to be. As a choice, I did not feel that it made sense. Was he chosen purely because he was different? Or, was he chosen because the pool of villains became rather small in the end? It felt as if he was plucked out of thin air and given a rushed off story to fill in the role compared to a lot of characters who had their background story developed throughout and could have fitted the bill perfectly.

So, this was my only question mark and it also reflected my overall rating.

As for Daphne Du Maurier, her novel piqued my interest enough that I will definitely be reading some of her other works. And I am gladly recommending this read to all, as I would be interested to know your thoughts on it and if they are anything like mine.

LaChouett

Thanking the Team at Virago Press for providing me with a review copy of this novel