Lorna Doone

Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor is a historical novel by the English writer R. D. Blackmore, first published in three volumes in 1869. It is set in the late seventeenth century in Devon and Somerset, in the country around the East Lyn valley, and it was listed on the BBC's Big Read survey in 2003.

John Ridd is a boy from a farming family whose father is killed by the Doones, outlaws who hold part of the moor and are beyond the reach of the law. Rather than grow up into a vendetta, he becomes a careful farmer who looks after his mother and sisters, and it is while he is going about his own business that he meets Lorna and falls thoroughly in love with her.

Lorna belongs to the Doone family, the granddaughter of its lord, Sir Ensor. That connection makes her both the woman John wants and a reason for the Doones to keep their hold on her, particularly once Sir Ensor dies and his heir, Carver, who intends to marry her himself, takes charge of the clan. The novel is written as John's own account of his life, told at length and in the dialect of the west country.