"When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude," says 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. Author Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874 - 1936) was an English writer, philosopher and art critic who created the fictional priest-detective Father Brown. George Bernard Shaw called him a "man of colossal genius".About the Author: About the Author British author Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) was an English writer, lay theologian, poet, philosopher, and biographer. Chesterton is well known for his priest-detective Father Brown. Time magazine had this to say about the British author: "Whenever possible Chesterton made his points with popular sayings, proverbs, allegories-first carefully turning them inside out."