Capt. Ross Poldark, moody Cornish hero of "The Renegade," is the sort of character who might feel at home in a novel by Bronte (Emily or Charlotte). A kind of Heathcliffian Mr. Rochester, Captain Poldark is separated from Cornwallis' defeated army after the Peace of 1783. Returning to England in a marrying mood, he finds his childhood sweetheart wed to another….

As you may have gathered, this melodramatic tale by Winston Graham has a decided nineteenth-century flavor, stylewise, even though its action takes place a century earlier. Victorianism in literature is not entirely a drawback; the nineteenth-century novel sometimes possessed solid virtues. Its leisurely pace allowed an author to examine the foibles of even minor characters. It had solidified social relationships and moral values to write about. And frequently it worked up lofty indignation at the plight of the "lower classes."

All these attributes help make "The Renegade" a...