Summary
John Ridd of Somerset is twelve years old in 1673 when
his father is killed by Carver Doone, one of a murderous
outlaw band. John wants to avenge his father’s death, but
falls in love with Lorna Doone, who later turns out to be
Lorna Dugal, the daughter of a rich Lord. Carver Doone
intends to marry her to get her inheritance.
John’s uncle enlists the help of Judge Jeffreys to fight
the Doones. Soon afterwards, rebellion begins. John is
wrongly suspected of being a rebel fighting with the Duke
of Monmouth against King James II. However, he is
rescued from hanging and taken to London where he is
made a knight.
Back in Somerset, an attack is launched on the Doones.
They all die except Carver. At John and Lorna’s wedding,
Carver shoots Lorna. He is chased by John and perishes in
the marshland. Lorna recovers and they live happily for a
long time after.
Chapters 1–3
In 1673, John Ridd, the son of a farmer, is at school in
Devon. On his twelth birthday, he has to go back home.
His father has been killed by Carver Doone, one of an
outlaw band who live in a nearby valley and terrorise the
area. On the way back, John meets Benita, the servant of
a Lady who is travelling with her daughter to Watchet,
and later has to hide from the Doones, who are carrying
booty and a girl. John decides to avenge his father’s death.
Two years later he visits the Doone valley by chance
where he meets Lorna Doone, and likes her very much
in spite of her surname. A year later, Tom Faggus, John’s
mother’s cousin, comes to the farm. Though he has been a
highwayman since he lost his lands, he helps the poor and
sick. Six years go by, and John becomes a strong young
man.
Chapters 4–6
On his way to the Ridds’ on New Year’s Eve, John’s
mother’s uncle, Reuben Huckaback, is attacked by the
Doones. Having obtained no help from the local Judge,
Lord Wichehalse, Uncle Reuben writes to Judge Jeffreys in
London, and makes a plan to fight the Doones, but John
is worried because, after seven years, he has seen Lorna
again and is in love with her. John and Lorna meet again,
and Lorna tells him her story. She feels lonely. She can
not remember her parents. Only Sir Ensor Doone, her
grandfather and the Counsellor, who is the wisest of the
Doones, are kind to her. Carver wants to marry her. She
can only talk to her servant girl, Gwenny Carfax. Lorna
also tells John that the year before, a young man, Lord
Alan Brandir, came to the valley to take her away. He said
he was her cousin and had been made her guardian.
But Carver Doone killed him before she could escape.
Chapters 7–9
Jeremy Stickles, a servant at the law courts, brings a letter
to John. He is summoned to London. Judge Jeffreys wants
information about the Doones and about talk of rebellion
against James, King Charles II’s brother and heir. When
John gets home, rumours of a revolt begin. Lorna is
scared because the Counsellor wants her to marry his son,
Carver. Another Doone, Charlie, also wants to marry her.
Sir Ensor Doone falls ill and Carver becomes the leader
of the clan. In the meantime, Anita, one of John’s sisters,
falls in love with Tom Faggus. Stickles comes back to find
out about local plans to join the rebellion. John overhears
Carver and Lord Wichehalse’s plan to kill Stickles, and
rushes to warn him. Stickles knows the Doones and Lord
Wichehalse are involved in the rebellion and has plans to
kill the clan. John is very worried about Lorna’s fate.
Chapters 10–12
Gwenny asks John to go to the valley. Sir Ensor Doone is
dying. On his deathbed, he accepts Lorna and John’s love
and gives Lorna a glass necklace and ring that John takes
with him. Some time later, Tom Faggus, now a farmer,
tells John and Lorna they are diamonds. John goes back
to the valley and finds Lorna and Gwenny locked in and
hungry. He has to fight Charlie and another Doone to
rescue Lorna and Gwenny. Carver threatens to kill Lorna
if she doesn’t go back to the valley, and the Doones fail in
their attempts to kill Stickles and burn the Ridds’ farm.
Soldiers keep arriving in the area. The Cousellor visits the
farm and, through a subterfuge, recovers the necklace. In
the meantime, Jeremy Stickles meets Benita, who tells him
that on their way to Watchet the Doones had attacked
them and had stolen her Lady’s jewels and carried off her
daughter. The girl is Lorna.
Chapters 13–15
Under the leadership of Jeremy Stickles, the King’s soldiers
and local people attack the Doone valley but fail to defeat
the Doones. Lorna, now Lady Dugal, is summoned to
London. King Charles II dies and his brother becomes
King James II. There are rumours that the Duke of
Monmouth will lead a rebellion against him, and that
Judge Jeffreys is coming to hang the rebels. John is
wrongly taken for a rebel, but Stickles arrives just in time
and takes him to London to be tried, where John meets
Lorna again. There he saves Lord Brandir, Lorna’s uncle,
from being robbed and killed, and is made a knight by the
King.
Chapters 16–17
John goes back to his farm. With the help of his
neighbours, he launches a new attack on the Doone valley.
Only Carver survives. John and Lorna get permission to
marry but, at the wedding, Carver breaks into the church
and shoots Lorna. He is chased by John and perishes in
the thick mud of the marshland. John returns home and
Lorna recovers. They live happily and bring up Carver’s
son, Ensie.
Background and themes
Is Lorna Doone just a classic love story, or a piece of
history with a love story entwined? There seem to have
been stories in the area where Blackmore grew up about
a band of outlaws living on Exmoor in the seventeenth
century. They were said to have been a Stuart family who
lost their lands in Scotland and came south. Stories of
highwaymen and murderous cattle rustlers on Exmoor
were also common.
The central event towards the end of the novel is pure
history. The Monmouth Rebellion reached its bloody
and pitiful end in the ditches and dykes of Somerset and
anyone living in the area at that time would have been
caught up in it, on one side or the other. Judge Jeffreys is
a historical figure; although he comes out of the novel as a
person wholly on the side of the angels, perhaps the truth
is a little more complex.
Whether the background is based on truth or not, Lorna
Doone has all the ingredients of a classic Victorian love
story. The love is sustained over a long period and a secret
past eventually transforms the present. The love between
John and Lorna seems destined to be unrequited, given
the enmity between John’s people and Lorna’s. But the
star-crossed lovers overcome all the odds to meet, time
and again, and eventually marry. A fabulous inheritance
ensures that they will live happily ever after.