The Good Man of Camerton

At the beginning of the nineteenth century John Skinner was settling in the Somerset parsonage of Camerton. He anticipated a comfortable and intellectually productive life as a country parson, with his time shared between parochial duties and work upon his beloved antiquarian studies. Newly married, he found his gentle wife Anna kind and pliable. Children would complete his domestic world and all could have been well.

Little did he envisage the turmoil and tragedies lying in wait for him. Little did his wife imagine how her husband's restless and irascible temperament would reverberate round the house, the village - and beyond.

John Skinner certainly wanted to do what he believed to be right, and he wanted others to do what he believed to be right. But was he a good man?

 

"The diaries form the basis for a fascinating story, imaginatively told, covering the lives of the clergyman, family members, servants, neighbours and colliers. As well as being engaging fiction about very human individuals, the book is social history, using factual detail to offer a sharp picture of life from 1805."

Pru Farrier, Durham Times

Gillian Garnham has lived for most of her life in Durham. She read English Language and Literature at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and taught in adult education, principally with the Open University, for thirty years. She is married with two grownup children. Her first novel, A Private Event, was commissioned and published in 2005 by Biscuit Publishing.

---