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.

Intrigued by the level of commitment and loyalty in the Cariboo Cameron saga, Bill Gallaher first wrote a song about the Camerons and as a result of further extensive research, wrote The Promise. He is now an author of several well-received books, The Journey: The Overlanders' Quest for Gold; A Man Called Moses: The Curious Life of Wellington Delaney Moses; Deadly Innocent; and The Frog Lake Massacre. Bill lives with his family in the Cariboo region of British Columbia.

Bill Gallaher is a well-known singer and songwriter who has also worked as an air-traffic controller and taught social studies. He is the author of The Frog Lake Massacre and The Luck of the Horseman, the first two books in the Wild Jack Strong trilogy. He has also written several other novels, which include The Promise: Love, Loyalty and the Lure of Gold; The Journey: The Overlanders' Quest for Gold; A Man Called Moses: The Curious Life of Wellington Delaney Moses; and Deadly Innocent. Please visit www.members.shaw.ca/billgallaher.

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A story about a promise of epic proportions. Highly entertaining yarn based on gold miner Robert Stevenson's memoir of his life and adventures with John 'Cariboo' Cameron.—Kamloops Daily News