The Promise

It was 1862 and the Cariboo Gold Rush was in full swing. Sophia Cameron, the Beauty of Barkerville, lay dying of typhoid when her husband, John 'Cariboo' Cameron, made one last promise to his fading young wife. "The Promise" is a compelling story of a great love and an epic struggle to honour a dying wife's final request: to take her body home to eastern Canada. Told in the voice of Robert Stevenson, Cameron's friend and mining partner, the story travels with the two men as they leave the frozen goldfields of BC and carry Sophia's body by sled, ship and rail to a tree-shaded cemetery near Cornwall, Ontario. However, she was buried amid mistrust and dark suspicions because Cameron refused to open the coffin - did it truly contain his lovely, young wife? In this his first novel, Bill Gallaher provides unique insight into a famous legend of the gold rush.