THE TWISTED SWORD
by Winston Graham
In this, the last novel in the popular English Poldark series, the Cornish family—home and abroad—suffer abrupt changes of fortune in the year 1815, when Napoleon returns from Elba to march on Paris. Ross Poldark, a brand-new baronet, is now on assignment in Paris to snoop out, for the Crown, varieties and degrees of sentiment in high Parisian places as to the future French leadership and direction. Demelza, his wife, is along with toddler Henry and teen-aged Bella, enjoying the balls and the unsought but satisfying male attention. But then the news comes that Bonaparte is on the march. Ross (at one point a prisoner of a sadistic anti- Bourbon villain) and Demelza (accompanying a spy and another traveller with the crown jewels) escape by various routes. Meanwhile, son Jeremy, whose coach robbery (The Miller's Dance, 1983) haunts Demelza, is in Brussels with pregnant wife Cuby; and in Cornwall daughter Clowance learns a shocking bit about reckless husband Stephen's past. By the close, there are two deaths, births, and an amusing comeuppance to an old enemy. And there's a view of the terrible battle and carnage of Waterloo. With flights and cliff-edge rescues, pretty indoor appointments, and Cornwall vistas, and with all the loose ends finally tied up, this is a must for the series' followers—although a newcomer can also easily plunge in.