You know – I think the best lesson to take away from this series is that families are complicated, and life is complicated, and you’ll have to work at both all the time, regardless of when you lived.
In the last book, Ross was to be brought to trial for supposedly ring-leading the pirating of two downed ships that had foundered in a storm. Never mind that whatever came from such wrecks had always been fair game for the locals, so long as they aided any sailors that survived. But this trial was politically motivated – backed by the richest family in the area, who have hated the Poldarks for years.
It’s the trial and aftermath of the trial that inform the action of this book, as well as the lingering effects of the loss of Ross and Demelza’s daughter, especially when Demelza finds herself pregnant again.
I just really enjoy this series – it’s an interesting family saga, with that family including the people that live on the lands the Poldarks own. You can’t help but be invested in how that community survives.