Lorna Doone

Free Online Text

Exmoor is primarily an upland area made up mainly of small villages and hamlets. The largest settlements are Porlock, Dulverton, Lynton, and Lynmouth, Simonsbath and Wheddon Cross.

Lorna Doone is a historical romance by R.D. Blackmore. The novel is set in the wilds of Exmoor during the late 17th century, and concerns the adventurous life of the yeoman John Ridd and his love for Lorna Doone, a beautiful maiden. Blackmore considered the novel a romance and studded it with the high adventure, dramatic set pieces, bloody villainy, and obstacles to love that characterise the genre. The author uses a 'phonogogic' style for his characters' speech, which emphasised their accent and manner of forming words in Exmoor at that time.

The book, first published as it was in 1869, is now long out of copyright. The text you can read here online has been converted from the original printed word to an electronic version using the OCR (Optical Character Recognition) system. Visitors to the Exmoorian site are then with the help of modern technology able to read the full text of 'Lorna Doone - a Romance of Exmoor', online for free.

Plot Summary

Images of Lorna Doone

Map of Doone Country

Preface to 1869 Edition

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapters 10, 11 and 12

Chapters 13, 14 and 15

Chapters 16, 17 and 18

Chapters 19, 20 and 21

Chapters 22, 23, and 24

Chapters 25, 26, and 27

Chapters 28, 29, and 30

Chapters 31, 32, and 33

Chapters 34, 35, and 36

Chapters 37, 38, and 39

Chapter 40 - 49

Chapter 50 - 59

Chapter 60 - 69

Chapter 70 to the end of the book Lorna Doone

Download the full book, Lorna Doone, as a PDF file.

See also the full text of the classic History of the Church at Porlock

and the History of the Hundred of Carhampton

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Exmoor is a National Park situated on the Bristol Channel coast of south west England. Exmoor is located in two counties, with 71% of the park located in Somerset and 29% located in Devon