Do you feel as disappointed as me that Graham didn't write a scene where Demelza tells Ross she's pregnant with Julia. I feel cheated. (Would've also loved a scene of her labor/the birth of Henry. I love the begining of Demelza.)
It is strange that I did not think much about this as I did love that Graham shared and allowed us to be part of Demelza's pregnancy announcements in the other books.
As their first child the pregnancy announcement of Julia would have been extra special. However it may be that it did not stand out to me as something that was a big missing hole because the end of the first book was so positive and from where Ross was emotionally at the start of the book, it represented such a huge and triumphant turn around. There was something celebratory about him falling in love with Demelza after marriage but encountering the test of staying over at the house of his first love but finding that afterwards he felt so in love with Demelza and that this was 'the greatest happiness of all'. For me as a reader I suppose I was caught up in this positivity and in the excitement of Demelza's labour at the beginning of the next book. There was joy in these defining or new life changing moments so I suppose I don't feel quite as cheated as you because at the end of that first book they have their happy ever after moment for another reason. That is assured and so your own imaginings of the pregnancy announcement would just be a bonus to an already achieved fairy-tale ending.
Your comment and my next thought now reminds me of my old blog post The Death Of Julia Poldark- A Marital Storm and the themes I referred to in it. At the time of writing Graham would have known that Julia would be born and die all in that next book. I do feel that her death was purposeful to cause a marital storm that would be overcome. So maybe Graham not writing a celebratory pregnancy announcement of her upcoming birth was part of this concept and idea that her purpose was not celebratory at all. But equally whilst we are present at her birth in the worst storm that Demelza says she could remember, we readers do not witness the pregnancy announcement and neither do we witness her death. That's a food for thought!
