The Trial Of John Jasper For The Murder Of Edwin Drood


Book Description

"The Trial of John Jasper for the Murder of Edwin Drood" by G. K. Chesterton is a gripping novel filled with mystery and intrigue. The story revolves around John Jasper, a choirmaster with a troubled past involving opium addiction, and his nephew Edwin Drood, who mysteriously disappears. The accused, Jasper, is a complex character with conflicting emotions. He is in love with Rosa Bud, who was previously engaged to Edwin, and is allegedly jealous of his nephew. The arrival of twins Neville and Helena Landless adds further complexity to the case. Witnesses testify about Jasper's suspicious activities and inquiries into destructive substances. As the trial unfolds, a stranger named Dick Datchery gathers evidence that raises doubts about Jasper's guilt. The novel delves into themes of love, jealousy, and the pursuit of justice, keeping readers enthralled with its intricate plot twists and deep character motivations.
















In Defense Of Sanity


Book Description

G.K. Chesterton was a master essayist. But reading his essays is not just an exercise in studying a literary form at its finest, it is an encounter with timeless truths that jump off the page as fresh and powerful as the day they were written. The only problem with Chesterton's essays is that there are too many of them. Over five thousand! For most GKC readers it is not even possible to know where to start or how to begin to approach them. So three of the world's leading authorities on Chesterton - Dale Ahlquist, Joseph Pearce, Aidan Mackey - have joined together to select the "best" Chesterton essays, a collection that will be appreciated by both the newcomer and the seasoned student of this great 20th century man of letters. The variety of topics are astounding: barbarians, architects, mystics, ghosts, fireworks, rain, juries, gargoyles and much more. Plus a look at Shakespeare, Dickens, Jane Austen, George MacDonald, T.S. Eliot, and the Bible. All in that inimitable, formidable but always quotable style of GKC. Even more astounding than the variety is the continuity of Chesterton's thought that ties everything together. A veritable feast for the mind and heart. While some of the essays in this volume may be familiar, many of them are collected here for the first time, making their first appearance in over a century.







A Year with G. K. Chesterton


Book Description

"A Year with G.K.Chesterton will be a treasure, both for those who are coming to his wit andwisdom as a fresh discovery, and for those who have known and loved his workfor years. . . . Chesterton's talent for paradox, and his ability to embodyprofound truth in simple images, makes him as compelling now as he was ahundred years ago. . . . He was a prophet in his own time and a prophet forours, speaking out against insidious evils and kindling us all again to acommon love of the common good." --The Reverend Dr. Malcolm Guite, chaplain of Girton College, Cambridge University "This world of ours has some purpose; and if there is apurpose, there is a Person. I had always felt life first as a story: and ifthere is a story, there is a Storyteller." --G. K. Chesterton A Year with G. K. Chesterton daily brings this truth to life. And we areheir to the winsome, arresting, utterly original outpouring of Chesterton'sreasons for hope. During his lifetime, a host of perspectives clamored for hisattention, but he saw nothing as vital and alive as Christianity. Readers ofthis book will find their faith strengthened and enriched, even as they see themany reasons why George Bernard Shaw called Chesterton "a colossal genius." A true anthology, the best of Chesterton's many works are presented in concise, memorableselections. From New Year's Day to New Year's Eve, each page contains a passageof Scripture and myriad moments for reflection, appreciation, and laughter. "Chesterton once aday? Well, that's a start. It is good to see that someone is finallyrecognizing the need for a daily minimum requirement of mirth and meditationfrom GKC." --Dale Ahlquist, President, AmericanChesterton Society "Kevin Belmonte writes in the preface to this excellent bookthat his editing of it has been a gift. As an author who has written regularlyon Chesterton I can understand his sense of gratitude at having been able tospend so much time with a genius as genial as the great GKC. Thanks toBelmonte's labor of love we can all spend a few moments of every day of the yearin Chesterton's inimitable company. All admirers of Chesterton and theChristian truth he explicates so sublimely will be grateful to Kevin Belmontefor this gem of a gift." --Joseph Pearce, author of Wisdom and Innocence: A Life of G. K.Chesterton "Who could not be grateful for a year spent with GKC?The great subverter of everything taken for granted, he stretches and deepensus with his insights, shakes us with his startling paradoxes and delights uswith his wit. Thank God there is no getting to the end of Chesterton." --Os Guinness, author of A Free People's Suicide




The Mystery of Edwin Drood: Charles Dickens' Unfinished Novel & Our Endless Attempts to End It


Book Description

A tantalizing tour through a true bibliomystery that will “get people talking about one of literature’s greatest enigmas” (KentOnline). When Dickens died on June 9, 1870, he was halfway through writing his last book, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Since that time, hundreds of academics, fans, authors, and playwrights have presented their own conclusion to this literary puzzler. Step into 150 years of Dickensian speculation to see how our attitudes both to Dickens and his mystifying last work have developed. At first, enterprising authors tried to cash in on an opportunity to finish Dickens’ book. Dogged attempts of early twentieth-century detectives proved Drood to be the greatest mystery of all time. Earnest academics of the mid-century reinvented Dickens as a modernist writer. Today, the glorious irreverence of modern bibliophiles reveals just how far people will go in their quest to find an ending worthy of Dickens. Whether you are a die-hard Drood fan or new to the controversy, Dickens scholar Pete Orford guides readers through the tangled web of theories and counter-theories surrounding this great literary riddle. From novels to websites; musicals to public trials; and academic tomes to erotic fiction, one thing is certain: there is no end to the inventiveness with which we redefine Dickens’ final story, and its enduring mystery.




The Last Dickens


Book Description

In his most enthralling novel yet, the critically acclaimed author Matthew Pearl reopens one of literary history’s greatest mysteries. The Last Dickens is a tale filled with the dazzling twists and turns, the unerring period details, and the meticulous research that thrilled readers of the bestsellers The Dante Club and The Poe Shadow. Boston, 1870. When news of Charles Dickens’s untimely death reaches the office of his struggling American publisher, Fields & Osgood, partner James Osgood sends his trusted clerk Daniel Sand to await the arrival of Dickens’s unfinished novel. But when Daniel’s body is discovered by the docks and the manuscript is nowhere to be found, Osgood must embark on a transatlantic quest to unearth the novel that he hopes will save his venerable business and reveal Daniel’s killer. Danger and intrigue abound on the journey to England, for which Osgood has chosen Rebecca Sand, Daniel’s older sister, to assist him. As they attempt to uncover Dickens’s final mystery, Osgood and Rebecca find themselves racing the clock through a dangerous web of literary lions and drug dealers, sadistic thugs and blue bloods, and competing members of Dickens’s inner circle. They soon realize that understanding Dickens’s lost ending is a matter of life and death, and the hidden key to stopping a murderous mastermind.