The Napoleon of Notting Hill & the Man Who Was Thursday

With his signature wit and style, G. K. Chesterton is easily considered one of the most prolific and influential writers of his day and ours. He penned hundreds of books and poems, thousands of articles, and several plays during the twentieth century. Two of his best-known novels, beloved for their hilarity and literary genius, are published together in this single volume.

The Napoleon of Notting Hill, his first novel, written in 1904 is a comic novel that takes place eighty years into the future, in a London where democracy is dead and the people have lost faith in revolution. When the asinine Auberon Quin is appointed King by random lottery he decides on a whim to revitalize patriotism by bestowing heraldic arms and colors to individual neighborhoods. While most roll their eyes, a passionate young man takes the king's decree to heart, and with his newfound civic pride rallies his town to wage war against encroaching modernization. This hilarious allegorical adventure plays on the ongoing conflict between cynics, who see the world as a joke, and fanatics who can't see past their own zealous faith.
Line drawings are included throughout.

The Man Who was Thursday, his most famous novel, is a spellbinding story that will keep you guessing with every twist and turn. In this darkly humorous allegory, an undercover poet-tunred-policeman gets caught up in a secret organization of anarchists as he tries to unmask them. But Sunday, the phantom head of the organization, is not what he seems - so what about the others? Much like its characters who wear different masks, this is a thrilling story that is at times a detective novel, at times a fantasy adventure, and always a joy to read.

G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) was one of C. S. Lewis’ primary mentors in apologetics, and an influence even in his conversion. Novelist, poet, essayist, and journalist, Chesterton was perhaps best known for his Father Brown detective stories. He produced more than 100 volumes in his lifetime, including biographies of Francis of Assisi and Thomas Aquinas. His Everlasting Man, which set out a Christian outline of history, was one of the factors that wore down Lewis’ resistance to Christianity. Chesteron was one of the first defenders of orthodoxy to use humor as a weapon. Perhaps more important was his use of reason to defend faith.