Selwyn Morgan’s wonderful debut novel ‘Going Up Camborne Hill’ is now available on Amazon. It was inspired by a visit to a cemetery in Virginia City, Nevada, an old gold mining town, and has been a labour of love for the Kemble-based writer. The result is a book that spans centuries and continents.
It follows a Cornish mining family’s fortunes from their first experience of Richard Trevithick’s historic, passenger-carrying steam engine at the Camborne Christmas fair in 1801 through to the Second World War.
Selwyn said: ‘I noticed that many of the Nevada cemetery graves were of Cornish tin miners. I’d been researching my ancestry and discovered my middle name ‘Berryman’ was Cornish in origin.
‘The thought struck me; some of the graves in the cemetery could be those of my relations. How did they get there? And how had the different strands of my Cornish family made their way to the present day?’
The novel ingeniously weaves together the lives and loves of one family with the technological and economic changes that impacted entire industries and communities. Extracts – and a chance to win a free copy – are featured in February’s Cirencester Scene. You can also try a taster chapter under ‘Story of the Month’ on this site.
The novel is available to buy here.
Somewhere Else Writers Group 