'Jamaica Inn' by Daphne Du Maurier

After the death of her mother, Mary Yellan crosses the windswept Cornish moors to Jamaica Inn, the home of her Aunt Patience. There she finds Patience a changed woman, downtrodden by her domineering, vicious husband Joss Merlyn. Mary discovers that the inn is a front for a lawless gang of criminals, and is unwillingly dragged into their dangerous world of smuggling and murder. Despite herself, she becomes powerfully attracted to a man she dares not trust - Joss Merlyn's brother. Before long Mary will be forced to cross her own moral line to save herself.

Set in Cornwall in 1820, the setting of Jamaica Inn is classic Gothic: a lonely, cold and windswept area of Cornwall, near the treacherous Bodmin Moor, in a decaying inn that all honest people avoid. One thing that struck me about Jamaica Inn is Du Maurier's use of landscape, a typical Gothic convention which reminded me strongly of Wuthering Heights. The novel opens with a description of a chillingly bleak scene:

It was a cold grey day in late November. The weather had changed overnight, when a backing wind brought a granite sky and a mizzling rain with it, and although it was now only a little after two o'clock in the afternoon the pallor of a winter evening seemed to have closed upon the hills, cloaking them in mist

Wind, rain and mist can be easily found in Gothic novels, as well as the sickly overtones hinted at by the words 'granite' and 'pallor'. Everything is universally grey and unhealthy in appearance. This is not the Cornwall of Poldark; the pathetic fallacy trope used frequently in Jamaica Inn establishes the novel well within the Gothic tradition. Indeed, these opening lines strongly echo Dracula and Jonathan Harker's rattling carriage journey into dangerous territory.

Yet, Mary is no fainting Gothic maiden, but energetic and rational. She walks for many hours upon the Cornish moors, she plans her immediate defensive strategy after discovering Joss Merlyn's criminal activities, and she shows strong determination to remain at the hellish Jamaica Inn in order to protect her Aunt Patience. While Mary's curiosity is a typical characteristic of Gothic heroines, dating back to the protagonists created by the matriarch of Gothic Ann Radcliffe (1764-1823), her loyalty and bravery make her stand out from the other females in the novel. In addition, by choosing to remain at the inn, she effectively outlaws herself; the shadow of the inn's evil reputation covers her in the eyes of society. Mary has a survivor's instinct; she has suffered loss, but she has learned from her experience.

Du Maurier creates horror in a clever way, a kind that readers could find relatable. Mary's Aunt Patience, once pretty and vivacious, has been reduced to a despondent shadow through her bullying husband's abuse of her. Joss Merlyn is huge and hulking, like 'a giant gorilla, with his black eyebrows and his mat of hair', with bright white teeth that give him 'the lean and hungry appearance of a wolf' and 'the strength of a horse'. Such an animalistic description makes Joss Merlyn brutish, the archetypal Gothic/Byronic villain. His physicality threatens and repulses Mary, yet she never seems to fear him, just hate him.

Du Maurier's choice of suitor for Mary is unusual. Jem Merlyn is brutally honest about his double dealings as a horse thief; the reader knows immediately that he is an unsavoury character. When Mary first meets Jem, she instantly dislikes him because of his resemblance to Joss, particularly 'his bold and decidedly insolent stare'. Yet, Mary admires Jem: 'although he was a head and shoulders smaller than Joss, and half the breadth, there was a certain strength about him that the elder brother did not possess'. Mary's attraction to Jem is conflicted; she knows that he would bring her pain as well as happiness, yet she is cynical towards marriage. Their relationship is not the chivalric ones of Gothic convention, but closer to the relationship of Cathy/Heathcliff and Jane Eyre/Edward Rochester.

Du Maurier grew up in Cornwall, and her knowledge of the area is made abundantly clear. She references real places in Cornwall: Bodmin Moor, Launceston, Gweek, Helston, Padstow, Altarnun, Twelve Men's Moor, Trewartha Marsh, and Dozmary Pool. The use of place names lends historical accuracy to the novel, suggesting it fits into the imaginative historical adventure genre. Yet, there are also elements of gothic horror, romance, and murder mystery. Jamaica Inn is a chilling, gripping book, winding its way between genres and defying classification. It does not end happily, but there is at least a semblance of light.

To sum up, this is a splendid book to take with you to Cornwall for the purposes of drawing you away from the heat, the sun, and the beach into a cold and eerie world. The novel is full of suspense, foreboding, and gloom. The reader is made privy to Mary's thoughts and emotions, with additional comments made by an ominiscient viewpoint - an unusual style for a modern novel, yet similar to the style of Ann Radcliffe, whose authorial voice occasionally interrupts her narratives. Everything is imbued with a sinister presence, from the moors to the clock in the hallway to the building of Jamaica Inn itself. Please, before you read Rebecca, read Jamaica Inn.

P.S.

Published in 1936, Jamaica Inn was Daphne Du Maurier's fourth novel. Like many of her works, it was later made into a film by Alfred Hitchcock in 1939 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031505/

Another film followed in 1983 (which I would not recommend because it is a very loose adaptation, but if you are interested, here is the link https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089363/)

There was also a BBC television series made in 2014 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3098842/