The original creator of the Poldark books, which are now being adapted for TV for the second time, was Winston Graham. He was born in Manchester in the UK in 1908 and began writing early, although the first novel of the Poldark series, Ross Poldark, didn't appear until 1945. Graham said later that he based the character of Ross on a World war II pilot he once met, though the novels are set in 18th century Cornwall.
The first book was so successful that readers were soon asking for more, In the end Winston Graham wrote 12 novels in the series. The first 7 were all adapted for TV in the 1970s and 80s, and this was so popular that some vicars supposedly changed the times of church services to fit round it. The last 5 novels never achieved quite the same success - the last one, Bella Poldark, was published in 2002 - although some of them were adapted too.