The Man Who Was Thursday New Edition

A Story of Intrigue, Mystery, Anarchy and Terror “Shall I tell you the secret of the whole world? It is that we have only known the back of the world. We see everything from behind, and it looks brutal. That is not a tree, but the back of a tree. That is not a cloud, but the back of a cloud. Cannot you see that everything is stooping and hiding a face? If we could only get round in front--” ― G.K. Chesterton, The Man Who Was Thursday The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare by G.K. Chesterton is part spy narrative, part dystopian novel and part Christian allegory. When Gabriel Syme is recruited to join by Scotland Yard to a secret anti-anarchist police corps, he discovers a world of unknown allegiances and powerful adversaries. This Xist Classics edition has been professionally formatted for e-readers with a linked table of contents. This eBook also contains a bonus book club leadership guide and discussion questions. We hope you’ll share this book with your friends, neighbors and colleagues and can’t wait to hear what you have to say about it. Xist Publishing is a digital-first publisher. Xist Publishing creates books for the touchscreen generation and is dedicated to helping everyone develop a lifetime love of reading, no matter what form it takes

The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare is a novel by G. K. Chesterton. The book is sometimes referred to as a metaphysical thriller. In Edwardian era London, Gabriel Syme is recruited at Scotland Yard to a secret anti-anarchist police corps. Lucian Gregory, an anarchistic poet, lives in the suburb of Saffron Park. Syme meets him at a party and they debate the meaning of poetry. Gregory argues revolt is the basis of poetry. Syme demurs, insisting the essence of poetry is not revolution, but rather law. He antagonizes Gregory by asserting the most poetical of human creations is the timetable for the London Underground. He suggests Gregory isn't really serious about his anarchism. This so irritates Gregory that he takes Syme to an underground anarchist meeting place, revealing his public endorsement of anarchy is a ruse to make him seem harmless, when in fact he is an influential member of the local chapter of the European anarchist council. The central council consists of seven men, each using the name of a day of the week as a code name, and the position of Thursday is about to be elected by Gregory's local chapter. Gregory expects to win the election, but just before the election Syme reveals to Gregory after an oath of secrecy that he is a secret policeman. Fearful Syme may use his speech in evidence of a prosecution, Gregory's weakened words fail to convince the local chapter he is sufficiently dangerous for the job. Syme makes a rousing anarchist speech and wins the vote. He is sent immediately as the chapter's delegate to the central council. In his efforts to thwart the council's intentions, however, Syme discovers five of the other six members are also undercover detectives; each was employed just as mysteriously and assigned to defeat the Council. They all soon find out they were fighting each other and not real anarchists; such was the mastermind plan of their president Sunday. In a surreal conclusion, Sunday himself is unmasked as only seeming to be terrible; in fact, he is a force of good like the detectives. However, he is unable to give an answer to the question of why he caused so much trouble and pain for the detectives. Gregory, the only real anarchist, seems to challenge the good council. His accusation is they, as rulers, have never suffered like Gregory and their other subjects, and so their power is illegitimate. However, Syme is able to refute this accusation immediately because of the terrors inflicted by Sunday on the rest of the council.

In a surreal turn-of-the century London, Gabriel Syme is recruited to a secret anti-anarchist task force at Scotland Yard. The central anarchist council consists of seven men, each named for a day of the week. Syme maneuvers to be elected to the council, and becomes Thursday.

It is very difficult to classify "The Man Who Was Thursday." It is possible to say that it is a gripping adventure story of murderous criminals and brilliant policemen; but it was to be expected that the author of the "Father Brown" stories should tell a detective story like no-one else. On this level, therefore, "The Man Who Was Thursday" succeeds superbly; if nothing else, it is a magnificent tour-de-force of suspense-writing. However, the reader will soon discover that it is much more than that. Carried along on the boisterous rush of the narrative by Chesterton's wonderful high-spirited style. You will soon see that you are being carried into much deeper waters than you planned on; and the totally unforeseeable denouement will prove, as it has for thousands of others since 1908 when the book was first published, an inevitable and moving experience, as the investigators finally discover who Sunday is.

G.K. Chesterton's 1908 masterpiece, The Man Who Was Thursday, is a metaphysical thriller, and a detective story filled with poetry and politics. Gabriel Syme is a poet and a police detective. Lucian Gregory is a poet and a bomb-throwing anarchist. Syme infiltrates a secret meeting of anarchists and becomes 'Thursday', one of the seven members of the Central Anarchist Council. He soon learns, however, that he is not the only one in disguise, and the nightmare begins...

A New York Times bestseller | Soon to be a major motion picture from Steven Spielberg at Amblin Entertainment “Witty, endearing and greatly entertaining.” —Wall Street Journal “Don’t trust anyone, including the four septuagenarian sleuths in Osman’s own laugh-out-loud whodunit.” —Parade Four septuagenarians with a few tricks up their sleeves A female cop with her first big case A brutal murder Welcome to... THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves the Thursday Murder Club. When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case. As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it's too late?

This eBook features the unabridged text of ‘The Man Who Was Thursday’ from the bestselling edition of ‘The Complete Works of G. K. Chesterton’. Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. The Delphi Classics edition of Chesterton includes original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of the author, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily. eBook features: * The complete unabridged text of ‘The Man Who Was Thursday’ * Beautifully illustrated with images related to Chesterton’s works * Individual contents table, allowing easy navigation around the eBook * Excellent formatting of the textPlease visit www.delphiclassics.com to learn more about our wide range of titles

“A powerful picture of the loneliness and bewilderment which each of us encounters in his single-handed struggle with the universe.” —C. S. Lewis Part detective story, part surreal thriller, and part social commentary, The Man Who Was Thursday is a masterpiece of literary fiction by the brilliant G. K. Chesterton. The story centers around seven anarchists in turn-of-the-century London who call themselves by the days of the week. Fearing an impending act of terrorism, Gabriel Syme is sent by Scotland Yard to infiltrate their ranks by becoming “Thursday.” Elected undercover into the Central European Council of anarchists, Syme must avoid detection and save the world from future bombings. Beyond the excitement of an elephant chase, duels, elaborate disguises, and a hot-air balloon pursuit through the streets of London, Chesterton is most interested in the battle of ideas. Indeed, his real agenda is to expose the moral relativism and parlor nihilism of his day as the devils he believed them to be. Chesterton’s classic novella tackles anarchy, social order, God, peace, war, religion, and human nature, somehow managing to combine them all into a delightful tale full of biting social commentary that is still relevant today.