Tonight, we’ll read the opening to "Lorna Doone", a Romance of Exmoor, a novel published in 1869 and written by English author Richard Doodridge Blackmore. "Lorna Doone" is based on a group of historical characters set in the late 17th century. John Ridd is the son of a farmer who is murdered by a member of the Doone clan. The Doone’s were once noble but now outlaws. John falls in love with a girl named Lorna who turns out to be from this very clan he loathes.