"The Maid of Sker"

I've started reading R. D. Blackmore's novel, The Maid of Sker, and I'm finding it to be every bit as beautiful and entertaining as Lorna Doone. Again, two things catch my attention in his writing: the flowing and detailed descriptions of the English countryside, and the humility and sense of humor of the narrator. I truly admired and "liked", almost as a friend, the narrator of Lorna Doone, and I feel similarly about The Maid of Sker's narrator. Reading the narration is like listening to a down-home, honest guy telling a fascinating story.

Thus far, Davy Lewellyn, the narrator, a disabled sailor in his 50s who has recently lost his wife, son, and daughter-in-law and is raising his 6-year-old grand-daughter, has discovered a small boat washed up on a beach, and containing a 2-year-old child . . . and thus begins a 600+ page tale!

Frontspiece of 1893 edition of
"The Maid of Sker"