A book by G. K. Chesterton detailing a popular theme both in his own philosophy, and in Christianity, of the 'holy fool', such as in Dostoevsky's The Idiot and Cervantes' Don Quixote. This is a book in two parts. The first, "The Enigma of Innocent Smith," concerns the arrival of a new tenant at Beacon House, a London boarding establishment. Like Mary Poppins, this man (who is tentatively identified by lodger Arthur Inglewood as an ex-schoolmate named Innocent Smith) is accompanied by a great wind, and he breathes new life into the household with his games and antics. During his first day in residence the eccentric Smith creates the High Court of Beacon; arranges to elope with Mary Gray, paid companion to heiress Rosamund Hunt; inspires Inglewood to declare his love for Diana Duke, the landlady's daughter; and prompts a reconciliation between jaded journalist Michael Moon and Rosamund.
However, when the household is at its happiest two doctors appear with awful news: Smith is wanted on charges of burglary, desertion of a spouse, polygamy, and attempted murder. The fact that Smith almost immediately fires several shots from a revolver at Inglewood's friend Dr. Herbert Warner seems to confirm the worst. Before Smith can be taken to a jail or an asylum, Michael Moon declares that the case falls under the purview of the High Court of Beacon and suggests that the household investigate the matter before involving the authorities or the press. (wikipedia.org)

Portrait

Chesterton was born in Campden Hill, Kensington, London, as the son of Edward Chesterton (1841-1922), an estate agent, and Marie Louise, nee Grosjean, of Swiss French descent. Chesterton was baptized into the Church of England when he was one month old, despite his family's inconsistent Unitarian practice. According to his book, as a young man, he was captivated by the occult and, with his brother Cecil, experimented with Ouija boards. He attended St Paul's School before moving on to the Slade School of Art to study illustration. The Slade is a department of University College London where Chesterton also took literary studies, but he did not earn a degree in either field. Chesterton developed the fictional priest-detective Father Brown and wrote on apologetics. Even those who disagree with him acknowledge the broad popularity of works like Orthodoxy and The Everlasting Man. Chesterton frequently referred to himself as an orthodox Christian, and he gradually identified this viewpoint with Catholicism before switching from high church Anglicanism. Biographers see him as a successor to Victorian authors like Matthew Arnold, Thomas Carlyle, John Henry Newman, and John Ruskin.