Manalive (Esprios Classics)

Manalive (1912) is 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 niece.