Silas Hocking

This book is a little gem. It was first published in 1880 by a Cornish Minister who upped sticks to bang his drum up in the 'grim North', ( including 3 years in Liverpool, which is where this story is primarily set ). Despite the good man of the cloth earning only a fraction of what he should have done, this book gave Silas K Hocking his place in History, as the first author to sell more than a million books in his own life time. Considering the traditional rush from the cemetery to buy all sorts of works of art, music and literature by even the most obscure writers/artists in the event of their passing on, this was indeed an achievement. One read of the first chapter will make you understand why.