|
|
Home
Story Actors
Bulletin board
Videos
Sitemap About
Links
Welcome to the
www.TheOnedinLine.com
website / page / Novels
Novels
There are six novels based on the series. The first five, The Shipmaster
(1972), The Iron Ships (1974), The High Seas (1975), The Trade Winds
(1977) and The White Ships (1979) are all by the creator of the series,
Cyril Abraham. The books are not straightforward novelisations of the
television episodes, since the author introduced additional material and
also changed a number of details, though dialogue from the series that
Abraham had penned himself is utilized. In print, Elizabeth's child is
conceived in a private room above a restaurant, not on the Charlotte
Rhodes; George Callon lasted considerably longer and died in bed after
suffering a stroke, not in a warehouse fire; Emma was Callon's daughter,
not his niece; Captain Webster remarried, his new partner being the
irrepressible old crone Widow Malloy, an entertaining character with a
repertoire of coarse remarks; Albert did not abscond to Patagonia but
died aboard ship following his involvement in retrieving a kidnapped
Elizabeth from Daniel Fogarty; Caroline Maudslay and Matt Harvey were
omitted altogether (though Matt did appear in a short story - see
below); Jack Frazer's life was extended and he lived to see both Emma's
death and Daniel's return from Australia, though his television
discovery that William was not his grandson never took place.
The sixth novel, The Turning Tide (1980), was written by Bruce Stewart.
This deviated even more from the television series and probably from
Cyril Abraham's intentions as well. Letty was depicted as a jealous
harpy aiming unpleasant remarks at Charlotte; Elizabeth and Daniel ended
up emigrating to Australia permanently and James became the owner of the
Frazer Line. The book is, nonetheless, an entertaining read with a
moving final speech from James.
A series of Onedin short stories by Cyril Abraham, set between Series
Two and Series Three, appeared in Woman magazine in 1973. The plots
involved Robert's encounter with the attractive Amelia, a social
gathering that revolves around the naming of the first Onedin steamship
and an appearance by Sarah's destitute sister Constance, who is on the
streets. A later tale by Abraham, For Love of the Onedin's, appeared in
a short-lived magazine called TV life. This story, covering Leonora
Biddulph's wedding, occurs between Series Three and Series Four and
features Matt Harvey, who was Elizabeth's love interest during the
fourth series. There is a slanging match between Elizabeth and Sarah,
who each disparage the circumstances of the other's wedding day until
Leonora intervenes to restore peace.
Cyril Abraham had planned to write a whole series of novels that would
follow the fortunes of the Onedin Line into the twentieth century, but
he died in 1979 after completing The White Ships. The only clue as to
where the story might ultimately have led is that Abraham saw James and
Elizabeth as eventually becoming two wizened old autocrats, both
determined not to relinquish their hold on the shipping business.
Links to third party Web sites on this site are
provided solely as a convenience to you. If you use these links, you
will leave this Site. We have not reviewed all of these
third party sites and does not control and is not responsible for any of
these sites or their content. Thus, we do not endorse or
make any representations about them, or any information, software or
other products or materials found there, or any results that may be
obtained from using them. If you decide to access any of the third party
sites linked to this Site, you do this entirely at your own risk.
Translate
Español /
Deutsch /
Français /
Italiano /
Svenska /
Hollands /
Portuguese or
other languages
|
|
