In this quietly revealing chapter, set in a noisy pub on fair day in Barnstaple, Blackmore invites us to look more closely at one of his most unsettling figures — Parson Chowne. There is, as the title suggests, something about him that commands attention and unease in equal measure. Through rumour, reaction, and reflection, we begin to sense the darker undercurrents of power, charisma, and fear that surround this man.

Through the character of Parson Chowne, Blackmore explores the darker side of religious authority. Victorian readers would have recognised his type — a clergyman whose social standing gave him power, but whose conduct betrayed the values he was meant to uphold. Blackmore often used such figures to criticise hypocrisy and moral corruption within institutions that clai ...