“He remembered the thoughts that had flooded his mind when first the idea came to him to take Barcroft’s identity; to be Barcroft… He had only wondered whether he could carry out the project successfully. Then he had come to his decision. He had buried Barcroft’s body under the débris of the mining camp. He had dressed himself in Barcroft’s clothes; he had appropriated his papers, his bank-book, his possessions, his name, and had come to England as the Vicar of St. Michael’s.”

Sham is reminiscent of Hocking’s tale of England and Australia, The Wilderness.

Joseph Hocking was a Cornish novelist and United Methodist Free Church minister. Like the American Presbyterian minister Edward Roe, Hocking’s novels combine rich characters with gripping stories. Joseph Hocking published more than 100 books and was greatly respected as a fiction writer. Hocking passed this life in 1937.

Publication Information

• Lutheran Library edition first published: 2019
• Copyright: CC BY 4.0