Join JASNA-NJ for an online discussion of Daphne du Maurier’s Jamaica Inn on Saturday, November 16th at 2:00pm EST on Zoom. You can register here.
Determined to obey her mother’s dying wish, plucky Mary Yellan braves a harrowing journey by coach on a stormy November night to the notorious Jamaica Inn, where her Aunt Patience and her Uncle Joss reside. Immediately, as soon as she witnesses her aunt’s terrified face, she realizes that something is amiss. Threats of sexual assault, rumors of smuggling, and murder are only a few of the catalog of dark crimes associated with the notorious public house. But Mary is no shrinking damsel:
“However grim and hateful was this new country, however barren and untilled, with Jamaica Inn standing alone upon the hill as a buffer to the four winds, there was a challenge in the air that spurred Mary Yellan to adventure. It stung her, bringing color to her cheeks and a sparkle to her eyes; it played with her hair, blowing it about her face; and as she breathed deep she drew it through her nostrils and into her lungs, more quenching and sweeter than a draft of cider.”
Daphne Du Maurier’s first novel Jamaica Inn was published in 1936 when the author was only twenty-nine. Jamaica Inn has enthralled readers and inspired countless adaptations. It was inspired by a real place—Du Maurier was staying at the Jamaica Inn when she got lost on the moors while visiting Cornwall and the idea for a novel revolving around smuggling first took form in the author’s mind. The inn is still in business! But even if you can’t visit the actual Jamaica Inn this November, please join JASNA-NJ on November 16th for a discussion of this fascinating Gothic novel, set in the Regency and authored by the 20th century’s most famous author (Rebecca, Frenchman’s Creek) of romantic suspense.
Click anywhere in this sentence to register.
The Wreckers by George Morland, 1791
Jane Austen Society of North America - New Jersey Region 