Summary
Summary of The Birthright
Key ideas
Key idea 1
A stolen estate begins the feud
Jasper Pennington begins with the wrong done to his father. His grandfather’s second wife turns the old man against his own son and secures the Pennington lands for her son, Richard Tresidder. One clause leaves the dispossessed family a chance: they may buy the estate back for half its value.
Before a new will can undo the damage, the grandfather dies. Jasper’s father suspects poisoning. The house becomes more than property: it stands for a family name injured by greed and manipulation.
Key idea 2
A dying promise shapes Jasper’s life
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Key idea 3
Public shame brings an unexpected kindness
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Key idea 4
Naomi gives Jasper another purpose
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Key idea 5
Naomi’s fortune puts her in danger
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Key idea 6
Jasper refuses to lure sailors ashore
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Key idea 7
A false letter takes Jasper prisoner
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Key idea 8
The treasure offers another uncertain path
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Key idea 9
A birthright includes a clean conscience
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The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest freeWho it’s for
For readers who love Cornish coastlines, smugglers' caves and wreckers' lights, and for anyone who enjoys a stubborn hero, a bitter family feud and a love story that must win through against clever enemies.
What this book is
The Birthright is a Cornish adventure novel by Joseph Hocking, set in the 1730s and 1740s. It is told in the first person by Jasper Pennington, a farmer's son, who sets out to write the true account of his life because gossip has blackened his name. You get a story of stolen land, a stubborn feud, smugglers, a witch and a dwarf, and a love that drives a very large young man to do reckless things.
The tale opens with a family wrong. Jasper's grandfather leaves the great house of Pennington to a stepbrother of the family, a Tresidder, and only an odd clause in the will lets the Penningtons buy it back for half its value. On his deathbed Jasper's father makes him promise never to rest until Pennington is his again. From there the book moves from farm lanes and courtrooms to dark sea caves and wild cliffs.
Hocking, who was a Cornish minister as well as a novelist, fills the pages with local lore, coast names and old beliefs. Let us start where Jasper starts, with a will, a promise and a very old grudge.
In this summary
- 1A stepmother steals the Pennington estateFree
- 2A father's dying promise and a hated family
- 3Jasper loses the farm and is pilloried
- 4Granfer Fraddam's cave and Naomi on the rock
- 5Jasper overhears the Tresidders and meets Captain Jack
- 6The wreckers' light and a midnight visit
- 7Mr. Wesley, a forged letter and a prison above the sea
- 8A secret stair, a fight and a plunge into the sea
- 9Rescue from Lanherne, and the treasure hunt
- 10What the story is about, and how it is told
Key point 1 of 10
A stepmother steals the Pennington estate
Jasper begins with the wrong done to his father. His grandfather, a widower, marries a lawyer's widow named Tresidder, who brings her son Richard into the house. She is jealous for her boy and spends years turning the old man against his own son Jasper.
Just before the younger Jasper turns twenty-one, a new will leaves him five hundred pounds and puts all the Pennington lands in trust for Richard Tresidder. The family lawyer, Mr. Trefry, is made to watch it done. Yet the grandfather insists on one clause. If Jasper or his heirs can ever raise the money, they may buy the estates back for half their value, set by five county gentlemen.
Then the old man regrets what he has done. He writes to Trefry to come and draw up a new will. Before the lawyer can arrive, the grandfather is dead, and the doctor says his heart failed. Jasper's father is sure he was poisoned, and is turned out of his home.
So the Tresidders hold Pennington, and the long quarrel begins. It is a plain story of greed, and it explains why the hero cares so much about one house.
The account is told by Jasper in a rough, honest voice. He says he is no scholar. That voice gives the whole book its flavor.
That’s 1 of 10 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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What promise directs Jasper’s pursuit of Pennington?
Right. “His father makes him swear never to rest until Pennington is his again, and never to trust a Tresidder.”Not quite. “His father makes him swear never to rest until Pennington is his again, and never to trust a Tresidder.”
How does Naomi help Jasper at his trial?
Right. “At his trial Naomi appears and swears that he was at Pennington at midnight.”Not quite. “At his trial Naomi appears and swears that he was at Pennington at midnight.”
What does Jasper’s birthright mean beyond land and a family name?
Right. “The other, which the strange hermit Esau names, is a clean conscience.”Not quite. “The other, which the strange hermit Esau names, is a clean conscience.”
Questions about The Birthright
What is The Birthright by Joseph Hocking about?
It tells how Jasper Pennington, a strong young Cornishman, tries to win back his family's estate from the Tresidders. Along the way he meets smugglers, a witch's son and a young heiress he loves, and learns what a man should refuse to do.
Is The Birthright a true story?
No. It is a historical novel by Joseph Hocking, set in Cornwall in the 1730s and 1740s. Real places and the real preacher John Wesley appear, but Jasper, the Tresidders and the smugglers are invented.
Who is Captain Jack Truscott in The Birthright?
He is a smuggler and wrecker who rules a gang from Kynance Cove. He talks in pious phrases and calls himself a man of peace, yet he plots murder, and he is also known by the name Jack Fraddam.
What does the birthright mean in this novel?
It first means Jasper's right to buy back Pennington under his grandfather's will. A wandering hermit later says there is a better birthright, a clear conscience and clean hands, and that idea shapes Jasper's choices.
Is The Birthright easy to follow?
Yes, it is approachable. Jasper tells his own story in plain words, in clear scenes with fights, escapes and chases. Short chapters each have a headline that tells you what is coming.
