The surname Skinner is an English trade and business name of approximately the twelfth century when trade names like Brewer, Baker, Chandler, and Smith came into existence as family names. Skinner is the name adopted as a dealer in skins, furs, and hides. The Skinner Company of London received a charter of incorporation during the reign of Edward III and has a coat of arms, which is discussed later from that period. The Skinner families are found all over England. The Skinner families are in Cowley and Devonshire in London and in Essex, Sussex, Dewlish, the Isle of Wight, and other counties as well. This book gives the history of the Skinner family from 1200 to the present time and connects six immigrants that is listed in the introduction of the book.

Farley Brothers Drugs & Sundries is a collection of short stories set in small towns. Sissy, tomboy protagonist in the title story, types wills for a lawyer, pitches softball, and yearns for "a life." Her yearnings bubble to spill-over point when not one, but two eligible men move to town and put the moves on her. In "Allie's Daring Adventure," a middle-aged housewife decides to add zing to her love life and plots to seduce her fisherman husband. "Cousin Stan Turns on the Charm" features Stan, who hoodwinks the ladies in his retirement trailer park until his more truthful cousin Roy comes to visit. "Driving Delbert Lemieux's Second-best Hearse" follows the misadventures of two feckless buddies as they attempt to deliver a corpse. In "A Man of Means," the protagonist struggles to become someone important, someone the townspeople admire. Dale, in "My Brother's Wife," moves in with his brother's widow and learns that the wild life isn't always the good life. Twelve stories in all, this collection offers laughter-and a tear or two--at our human foibles.