''Perlycross: a tale of the western hills'' is a

three-volume novel The three-volume novel (sometimes three-decker or triple decker) was a standard form of publishing for British fiction during the nineteenth century. It was a significant stage in the development of the modern novel as a form of popular literatur ...

by R. D. Blackmore published in 1894. The story is set in eastern

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

around 1830.Perlycross, a summary
at www.victorianweb.org

Writing

''Perlycross'' was Blackmore's penultimate novel, published when he was 69 years old. It recalls his childhood years when his father held the post of

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are as ...

at Culmstock in Devon in 1835.John Sutherland, (1990), ''The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction'', page 498, Stanford University Press. Blackmore portrays his father in the story as the widowed Rev. Penniloe. The villages in the novel, Perlycombe, Perlycross and Perliton, represent the real villages of

Hemyock Hemyock () is a village and civil parish in Devon, England. It is about 8 miles north-west of Honiton and south of the Somerset town of Wellington. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,519. Hemyock is part of the electoral ward ...

, Culmstock and

Uffculme Uffculme (, ) is a village and civil parish located in the Mid Devon district of Devon, England. Situated in the Blackdown Hills National Landscape, Blackdown Hills on the B3440, close to the M5 motorway and the Bristol–Exeter line, Bristol– ...

respectively.Colin G Maggs, ''The Culm Valley Light Railway - Tiverton Junction to Hemyock'', The Oakwood Press, Usk, 2006, .

Plot

Sir Thomas Waldron, the squire of Perlycross, is suffering from a terminal disease. The news is kept from him and his family so long as possible, and his death comes as a great shock.''The Publisher'', (1894), Volume 8, Issue 61, page 198 Sir Thomas was aware that Dr. Jemmy Fox has fallen in love with his daughter Inez, and expresses to his friend Rev. Philip Penniloe his approval of the match should the girl herself care for the doctor. On the very night of the squire's funeral it is found that the grave has been rifled and the body stolen. The only man with a clue to the mystery is a blacksmith who has been called up late at night by a mysterious party with a cart. He declares, on first telling of this, that he saw Dr. Fox with the cart, and this makes people suspect that Dr. Fox performed the sacrilege for medical purposes. Fox finds himself pointed at and shunned by nearly everybody in the parish of Perlycross. Lady Waldron, who never liked Fox, eagerly adopts the story. He has however, an alibi, as at the time of the occurrence he had been summoned to a distant place where his father was ill. Penniloe and others remain staunch to him, and one or two of the villagers take his side. Fox tries to see Lady Waldron, but she refuses him admittance; he, however, meets Inez, and not only finds that she does not believe the calumny, but that she reciprocates his affections. Time passes, and there is no clue found to the mystery; everybody is worried over it, especially, of course, Lady Waldron and her daughter, Dr. Fox, and Mr. Penniloe. The mystery is only resolved on the return of Sir Thomas's son from abroad, as he proves to be the means of finding the solution.

Publication

''Perlycross'' was first published as three volumes in 1894."Richard Doddridge Blackmore" entry in ''The Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature: 1800-1900'', (1999), Cambridge University Press.

Reception

In reviewing the novel, ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...

'' noted that the story "is much too slender to serve as the framework for a hree-volumenovel" and that "the book is in essence a study of rural life in south-western England."Books
''The Spectator'', 15 September 1894, page 17

References

External links

* {{R. D. Blackmore 1894 British novels Novels by R. D. Blackmore Novels set in Devon