In 1783 a young army officer rides home to Cornwall from the war in America. His father is dead, his house is falling down, and the woman he hoped to marry is engaged to someone else. That is the opening of Ross Poldark, and of one of the best loved family sagas in historical fiction.
Winston Graham wrote twelve Poldark novels over fifty-seven years, following Ross, Demelza and their children from the 1780s to 1820. This guide lists every book in order, explains the gaps and time jumps, and covers both television series.
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Quick Series Facts
| Author | Winston Graham (1908 to 2003) |
| Number of books | 12 novels |
| First book | Ross Poldark (1945) |
| Last book | Bella Poldark (2002) |
| Story covers | 1783 to 1820 |
| Setting | Cornwall, with episodes in London, Portugal, France and Belgium |
| Genre | Historical family saga |
| Series status | Complete |
Poldark Books in Publication Order
The Poldark novels were published in the same order as the story, so there is only one reading order. Each book carries the subtitle “A Novel of Cornwall” and the years it covers.
1. Ross Poldark (1945)
Setting: Cornwall, 1783 to 1787
Captain Ross Poldark comes home from the American War of Independence, scarred and tired, to find that everyone thought he was dead. His father has died, the family estate of Nampara is in ruins, and his sweetheart Elizabeth is about to marry his cousin Francis.
Ross decides to stay and rebuild. He works his own land, tries to reopen the family copper mine, and takes the side of the poor miners and farmers against his own class. At a local fair he rescues a starving miner’s daughter, Demelza Carne, and takes her home as a kitchen maid.
The first novel is the foundation for everything that follows. It was published in the United States as The Renegade, in a slightly shortened text. Modern editions use the original title.
2. Demelza (1946)
Setting: Cornwall, 1788 to 1790
Demelza Carne, the miner’s daughter Ross brought home, is now his wife. She has to find her place in a society that looks down on her, and she does it with warmth, nerve and a habit of meddling for the best of reasons.
Ross, meanwhile, takes on the powerful Warleggan family, bankers who are tightening their grip on the county’s mines. He joins a scheme to break their control of the copper trade, with a great deal at stake.
Many readers think this is the best of the early books. Demelza comes fully to life, and the closing chapters are some of the most dramatic in the series.
3. Jeremy Poldark (1950)
Setting: Cornwall, 1790 to 1791
Ross Poldark faces trial for his life at the Bodmin assizes, and his enemies are working hard to see him convicted. Demelza, desperate, tries to help in her own way.
This is the shortest of the twelve novels and one of the tensest. The trial exposes how much Ross’s pride has cost him, and it opens a rift between husband and wife.
The feud with George Warleggan sharpens, and Francis Poldark, Ross’s cousin, moves to the centre of the story.
4. Warleggan (1953)
Setting: Cornwall, 1792 to 1793
Ross has staked everything on a mine that is not paying, and ruin is close. George Warleggan is growing richer and more powerful, and his interest in the Poldark family is becoming personal.
The old attachment between Ross and Elizabeth returns to trouble both households, and the Poldark marriage comes under its heaviest strain so far.
This book closes the first phase of the saga. Graham believed the story was finished, and he did not return to it for twenty years.
5. The Black Moon (1973)
Setting: Cornwall, 1794 to 1795
Britain is at war with Revolutionary France. A son is born to George and Elizabeth Warleggan under an eclipse of the moon, and the rivalry between the two families passes to a new generation.
Demelza’s two brothers, Sam and Drake Carne, arrive in the district. One is a devout Methodist, and the other falls for Elizabeth’s young cousin, Morwenna Chynoweth, with consequences for everyone.
After a gap of two decades, Graham picked up exactly where he left off. The writing is richer and more assured, and the cast grows considerably.
6. The Four Swans (1976)
Setting: Cornwall, 1795 to 1797
The four swans of the title are four women: Demelza, Elizabeth, Caroline Enys and Morwenna. Each of them faces a crisis in her marriage or her heart.
Ross has become a respected figure in the county and is offered a path into politics. George Warleggan wants the same prize, and the two men become rivals in a new arena.
This is the most domestic of the novels and one of the most finely observed. Graham’s women are as fully drawn as his men, which was unusual in historical fiction of the time.
7. The Angry Tide (1977)
Setting: Cornwall and London, 1798 to 1799
Ross now sits in Parliament and divides his time between Westminster and Cornwall. The distance puts new strain on his marriage, and a visit to London brings a dangerous quarrel.
In Cornwall, a banking crisis threatens the Poldarks and their friends, and the long story of Morwenna and Drake reaches a turning point.
The Angry Tide brings the eighteenth century part of the saga to a powerful close. Both television series adapt the novels only up to this point.
8. The Stranger from the Sea (1981)
Setting: Cornwall and Portugal, 1810 to 1811
Eleven years have passed. Ross and Demelza’s children, Jeremy and Clowance, are grown, and the story now belongs to them as much as to their parents.
A stranger named Stephen Carrington is pulled from the sea after a shipwreck and quickly makes an impression on the family. Ross, meanwhile, is in Portugal on a mission to observe Wellington’s army.
The time jump surprises some readers, but the younger Poldarks are wonderful creations. This book begins the second half of the saga.
9. The Miller’s Dance (1982)
Setting: Cornwall, 1812 to 1813
Jeremy Poldark is fascinated by the new steam engines and frustrated in love. Clowance has more than one suitor and a difficult choice to make.
The age of steam is arriving in the Cornish mines, and Graham weaves the real engineering of the period into the story. Disappointment drives one of the younger characters towards a reckless decision.
The book moves the family firmly into a new century, with new money, new machines and new temptations.
10. The Loving Cup (1984)
Setting: Cornwall, 1813 to 1815
A small silver cup becomes the link between several lives, and a secret from the previous book hangs over the family. The long war with France is drawing to its end.
Both Poldark children reach decisions about marriage, and the feud with the Warleggans, older now and more complicated, takes a new turn.
It is a novel about consequences, as the choices made in the last two books begin to come home.
11. The Twisted Sword (1990)
Setting: Cornwall, Paris and Belgium, 1815
Ross is sent to Paris on government business, and Demelza goes with him. They are enjoying the city when Napoleon escapes from Elba and returns to France.
The Hundred Days sweep up the whole family, and the story moves towards the battle of Waterloo. This is the longest look at the wider world in the series.
Many readers find it the most moving of the twelve. Have the final book ready, because you will want to go straight on.
12. Bella Poldark (2002)
Setting: Cornwall and London, 1818 to 1820
The youngest Poldark daughter, Isabella-Rose, known as Bella, has a remarkable singing voice and wants a career on the stage. Her parents have to decide how far to let her go.
In Cornwall, a series of violent crimes unsettles the county, and Valentine Warleggan’s wild behaviour brings the old family rivalry to a final crisis.
Graham published this last novel at the age of ninety-three, a year before he died. It gives the saga a proper ending, with Ross and Demelza at its centre to the last page.
Is the Series Complete?
Yes. Winston Graham died in 2003, and Bella Poldark is the final novel. It reads as a deliberate ending.
There are no sequels by other authors and no unfinished manuscripts. The twelve books are the whole story.
Chronological Order vs Publication Order
For Poldark, the two are the same. Graham wrote the story in sequence, and each novel begins shortly after the last one ends, apart from one deliberate jump.
There are two things to know before you start:
- The twenty year pause. The first four novels appeared between 1945 and 1953. Graham then wrote other books for two decades before returning with The Black Moon in 1973. The story itself carries on without a break.
- The eleven year jump. Between book seven, which ends at Christmas 1799, and book eight, which opens in 1810, the children grow up. This is the only gap in the story.
The Three Parts of the Saga
It helps to think of the twelve books as three groups.
| Part | Books | Years | Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| The first four | Ross Poldark to Warleggan | 1783 to 1793 | Ross and Demelza’s early marriage, the mines, the feud begins |
| The middle three | The Black Moon to The Angry Tide | 1794 to 1799 | War with France, politics, the wider circle of family and friends |
| The final five | The Stranger from the Sea to Bella Poldark | 1810 to 1820 | The next generation, the end of the Napoleonic Wars |
About the Poldark Series
Poldark is a family saga set against the decline and revival of the Cornish mining industry. It begins with one man trying to save a ruined estate and grows into a portrait of a whole county over nearly forty years.
At its centre is a marriage. Ross is proud, stubborn and impulsive. Demelza is generous, quick and far wiser than her husband about people. Their relationship is tested again and again, and Graham never makes it easy or sentimental.
Around them is one of the largest casts in historical fiction: the doctor Dwight Enys and the heiress Caroline Penvenen, the banker George Warleggan, Ross’s cousins Francis and Verity, Demelza’s brothers, and the miners and villagers of the north Cornish coast.
What Makes Poldark Special
- A real marriage. Ross and Demelza quarrel, hurt each other and recover, across forty years.
- A worthy villain. George Warleggan is ruthless but never a cartoon, and Graham gives him moments of real feeling.
- A whole society. The books move easily from the great houses to the mine workings and the fishing coves.
- Cornwall itself. Graham lived there for over thirty years, and the cliffs, weather and sea are almost characters.
- Characters who age. The young lovers of book one are grandparents by the end.
- Solid history. Mining, banking, smuggling, elections and medicine are all drawn from careful research.
Main Characters
Ross Poldark. A gentleman with little money and strong opinions, who repeatedly risks his position by siding with the poor. He is brave and loyal, and his temper causes most of his troubles.
Demelza Poldark, born Carne. A miner’s daughter who arrives at Nampara as a ragged thirteen-year-old. She is the heart of the series. Graham said she was partly based on his own wife, Jean.
Elizabeth Chynoweth. Ross’s first love, beautiful and reserved, who marries his cousin Francis. Her choices shape the lives of both families.
George Warleggan. The grandson of a blacksmith, now a rich banker, who wants the acceptance that old families like the Poldarks take for granted. His rivalry with Ross runs through all twelve books.
Francis and Verity Poldark. Ross’s cousins from the senior branch of the family at Trenwith. Francis is weak and charming, and Verity is kind, plain and overlooked.
Dwight Enys and Caroline Penvenen. A young doctor devoted to treating the poor, and a sharp-tongued heiress. Their story is the main secondary plot of the early books.
Jeremy, Clowance and Bella Poldark. Ross and Demelza’s children, who take over much of the story from book eight.
Places in the Poldark Novels
Graham mixed real Cornish towns with invented houses and villages, so it helps to know which is which.
Nampara. Ross’s small estate on the north coast, with its house, its cove and its struggling farmland. It is fictional, though Graham borrowed the name from a part of Perranporth, where he lived.
Trenwith. The larger, older family house a few miles away, home to Francis, Elizabeth and Verity. It is the seat of the senior branch of the Poldarks and a prize that matters to more than one character.
The mines. Wheal Leisure and Wheal Grace are the two Poldark mines at the centre of the early books. “Wheal” is the Cornish word for a mine working, and you will meet it constantly.
Sawle and Grambler. The fishing village and the mining village nearest Nampara, home to most of the working characters.
Truro, Falmouth and Bodmin. All real. Truro is the county’s business centre and the Warleggans’ base, Falmouth is the packet port, and Bodmin is where the assize courts sit.
In the later novels the map widens to London, where Ross sits in Parliament, and to Portugal, Paris and the Low Countries during the war with Napoleon.
Where to Start
Start with Ross Poldark. This is a continuous story, and every later book depends on the ones before it.
If you have seen the television series: you can still begin at the beginning. The books are fuller and often different in detail, and the first novel is a quick read. Viewers who want only new material can start with The Stranger from the Sea, since neither series went beyond book seven.
If you are unsure about twelve books: read the first four. They form a complete story with a satisfying close, and they were all Graham intended to write at first.
Can you start anywhere?
Not really. Unlike a mystery series, Poldark is one long narrative, and starting in the middle means missing the history behind every relationship. The only reasonable second entry point is book eight, after the time jump.
About the Author
Winston Graham was born in Manchester in 1908 and moved to Perranporth, on the north coast of Cornwall, as a teenager. He lived there for more than thirty years, and the landscape of the Poldark novels is the coast he walked every day.
He began Ross Poldark during the Second World War, while serving as a coastguard, and published it in 1945. The series made his name, but he was also a successful writer of thrillers. His novel Marnie (1961) was filmed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Graham was made an OBE in 1983 and published his autobiography, Memoirs of a Private Man, in 2003, the year of his death at ninety-five. In all he wrote more than forty novels.
Historical Context
When the series opens in 1783, Cornwall is in trouble. Its copper and tin mines are being undercut by cheaper ore from elsewhere, and mines are closing across the county. Thousands of miners and their families face hunger.
Graham builds his plots on the real conditions of the time. Smelting companies fixed the price of ore, banks decided which mines lived or died, and smuggling was so common that whole villages depended on it. The grain riots and the wrecking of ships in the novels are drawn from events that actually took place on the Cornish coast.
The later books follow the great changes of the age. The war with France runs from 1793 to 1815, Methodism spreads through the mining villages, and high-pressure steam engines, pioneered by Cornish engineers, transform the mines.
The Poldarks and Warleggans are invented, but they live among real people and real institutions. Graham researched the period for decades, and the detail of mining, law and medicine is one of the pleasures of the books. For more fiction from the later part of this period, see our Napoleonic Wars historical fiction hub.
Similar Series You’ll Love
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. Another long saga built around a marriage in the eighteenth century, with a great deal more adventure and a time travel twist. If Ross and Demelza are what you love, Jamie and Claire are the obvious next couple.
Kingsbridge by Ken Follett. A town and its families across the centuries, with the same mix of work, money, love and rivalry.
Daphne du Maurier. For more Cornwall. Jamaica Inn and Frenchman’s Creek share Graham’s coast of smugglers and storms, with a darker, more romantic mood.
Hornblower by C.S. Forester. The same years seen from the deck of a warship. Like Poldark, it follows one man through a whole career.
Aubrey-Maturin by Patrick O’Brian. For readers who enjoy Graham’s attention to character and period language, O’Brian offers the same pleasures at sea.
Sharpe by Bernard Cornwell. The Peninsular War that Ross and his son touch on in the later Poldark novels, told at full length.
Adaptations
Poldark (BBC, 1975 to 1977). The first series starred Robin Ellis as Ross and Angharad Rees as Demelza. It ran for twenty-nine episodes, covered the first seven novels, and was a huge popular success in Britain and abroad.
The Stranger from the Sea (HTV, 1996). A single television film based on the eighth novel, with a new cast. It was not well received by fans of the original and no further films were made.
Poldark (BBC, 2015 to 2019). The second series starred Aidan Turner and Eleanor Tomlinson (IMDb). It ran for five series. The first four adapt the first seven novels, and the fifth tells a largely original story set in the years after The Angry Tide.
Robin Ellis, the original Ross, appears in the newer series in a small role as a clergyman and magistrate. Neither adaptation reached the final five novels, so readers who continue past book seven are on entirely new ground.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Poldark books are there?
There are twelve Poldark novels by Winston Graham, published between 1945 and 2002. They begin with Ross Poldark and end with Bella Poldark.
What is the correct order to read the Poldark books?
Read them in publication order, which is also the chronological order: Ross Poldark, Demelza, Jeremy Poldark, Warleggan, The Black Moon, The Four Swans, The Angry Tide, The Stranger from the Sea, The Miller’s Dance, The Loving Cup, The Twisted Sword and Bella Poldark.
Do I need to read the Poldark books in order?
Yes. The series is one continuous family story, and each novel builds on the ones before it. Reading out of order would spoil earlier books and make relationships hard to follow.
What years do the Poldark novels cover?
The story runs from 1783, when Ross returns from the American War of Independence, to 1820. There is one gap of eleven years in the story, between the seventh book and the eighth.
Which Poldark books does the TV series cover?
Both BBC series, from 1975 and from 2015, cover the first seven novels, from Ross Poldark to The Angry Tide. The fifth series of the 2015 version tells a largely original story. The last five novels have not been adapted in full.
Are the Poldark books different from the TV series?
The main story is the same, but the books have more characters, more detail about mining and Cornish life, and a slower, deeper treatment of the marriage. Some events and their order were changed for television.
Is Poldark based on a true story?
No. The Poldark and Warleggan families are fictional. The background is real, including the Cornish mining crisis, smuggling, the banking system and the wars with France, and Winston Graham researched it carefully.
Is the Poldark series finished?
Yes. Bella Poldark, published in 2002, is the final novel. Winston Graham died in 2003, and there are no further books.
Why is there a gap between the fourth and fifth Poldark books?
Winston Graham thought the story was complete after Warleggan in 1953 and spent twenty years writing other novels. He returned to Cornwall and the Poldarks with The Black Moon in 1973.
Is The Renegade the same book as Ross Poldark?
Yes. The Renegade was the title used for the first American edition of Ross Poldark, which was slightly shortened. Current editions use the original title.
Are the Poldark books suitable for younger readers?
They are written for adults and include violence, poverty, illness and some sexual content, though nothing very graphic. Older teenagers who enjoy historical fiction should be comfortable with them.
How long does it take to read the Poldark series?
The twelve novels come to more than six thousand pages. At a book every two weeks, the series takes about six months to read.
Where are the Poldark novels set?
They are set mainly on the north coast of Cornwall, around the fictional estates of Nampara and Trenwith, with the towns of Truro and Falmouth nearby. Later books also visit London, Portugal, Paris and Belgium.
Conclusion
Poldark is a rare thing: a twelve book saga that keeps its quality from first page to last. Winston Graham spent most of his life with these characters, and it shows in how completely he knew them.
Begin with Ross Poldark and give it a hundred pages. By the time Demelza arrives at Nampara with her dog, you will know whether you are in for the next forty years of the family’s life. Most readers are.