Brown grained cloth with gilt lettering on the spine. Embossed ship on front cover.

Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor is a novel by English author Richard Doddridge Blackmore, published in 1869. It is a romance based on a group of historical characters and set in the late 17th century in Devon and Somerset, particularly around the East Lyn Valley area of Exmoor. In 2003, the novel was listed on the BBC’s survey The Big Read.

PLOT SUMMARY

John Ridd is the son of a respectable farmer in 17th century Exmoor, a region in North Devon and Somerset, England. The notorious Doone clan, once nobles and now outlaws, murdered John’s father. Battling his desire for revenge, John (in West Country dialect, pronounced “Jan”) too grows into a respectable farmer who cares well for his mother and sisters. He meets Lorna by accident and falls hopelessly in love. She turns out (apparently) to be the granddaughter of Sir Ensor, lord of the Doones. Sir Ensor’s impetuous and now jealous heir Carver will let nothing thwart his plan to marry Lorna once he comes into his inheritance.

Sir Ensor dies, and Carver becomes lord of the Doones. John helps Lorna escape to his family’s farm. Since Lorna is a Doone the Ridds have mixed feelings toward her but defend her against Carver’s retaliatory attack. During a visit from the Counsellor, Carver’s father and the wisest Doone, Lorna’s necklace is stolen. Sir Ensor had told Lorna the necklace was her mother’s. A family friend soon discovers the necklace belonged to a Lady Dugal, who was robbed and murdered by outlaws. Only her daughter survived. Lorna is not a Doone after all, but heiress to a huge fortune. By law, but against her will, she must return to London as a ward in Chancery. Despite John and Lorna’s love, their marriage is out of the question.

King Charles II dies, and the Duke of Monmouth, the late king’s illegitimate son, challenges Charles’s brother James for the throne. Hoping to reclaim their ancestral lands, the Doones abandon their plan to marry Lorna to Carver and claim her wealth, and side with Monmouth. Monmouth is defeated at the Battle of Sedgemoor, and his associates are sought for treason. Although innocent, John Ridd is captured during the rebellion. An old friend takes John to London to clear John’s name. Reunited with Lorna, John thwarts an attack on her guardian, Earl Brandir. The king then pardons John and grant him a title.

The communities around Exmoor have tired of the Doones’ depredations. Knowing the Doones better than any other man, John leads the attack. All the Doone men are killed except the Counsellor and Carver, who escapes vowing revenge. When Earl Brandir dies, Lorna’s new guardian allows her to return to Exmoor and marry John. Carver bursts into their wedding, shoots Lorna and flees. In a blind rage, John pursues Carver. A struggle leaves Carver sinking in a mire and John so exhausted that he can only watch as Carver dies. John discovers that Lorna has survived, and after a period of anxious uncertainty she lives happily ever after.

Richard Doddridge Blackmore (7 June 1825 – 20 January 1900), known as R. D. Blackmore, was one of the most famous English novelists of the second half of the nineteenth century. He won acclaim for vivid descriptions and personification of the countryside, sharing with Thomas Hardy a Western England background and a strong sense of regional setting in his works.

Blackmore, often referred to as the “Last Victorian”, was a pioneer of the movement in fiction that continued with Robert Louis Stevenson and others. He has been described as “proud, shy, reticent, strong-willed, sweet-tempered, and self-centred.” Apart from his novel Lorna Doone, which has enjoyed continuing popularity, his work has gone out of print.