The Ball and the Cross

"When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude," Gilbert Keith Chesterton. Chesterton's second novel chronicles a passionate dispute between two Scotsmen, a Roman Catholic and an atheist. Both happen to fall in love with women who hold to their opponent's deepest convictions. The Ball and the Cross is part fantasy, part allegory with roots in religion, politics and science fiction. This 1910 book is mostly overlooked novel from author G.K. Chesterton, the master of all literary genres.