Jamaica Inn

First published in 1936, this novel sends Mary Yellan, after her mother's death, to Jamaica Inn on Bodmin Moor to live with her aunt Patience and uncle Joss Merlyn. The inn takes no honest custom; wagons arrive at night, and Mary learns that Joss's crew wrecks ships on the Cornish coast. She is pulled between fear of Joss, pity for Patience, and an uneasy attraction to Joss's brother Jem, a horse thief. The local vicar, Francis Davey, becomes her confidant as she tries to expose the trade. The book is a Gothic adventure of wrecking and secrecy, not a guidebook to Cornwall.

Reissue. Bound blue cloth blocked with an image in black and gold. Pale grey endleaves. Plain brown slipcase.