The Ball and the Cross: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Ball and the Cross, credited to G. K. Chesterton, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Ball and the Cross, by G. K. Chesterton. Read by Matthew Heckel and Tricia G. The Ball and the Cross is G. K. Chesterton's third novel. In the introduction Martin Gardner notes that it is a "mixture of fantasy, farce and theology." Gardner continues: "Evan MacIan is a tall, dark-haired, blue-eyed Scottish Highlander and a devout Roman Catholic.... James Turnbull is a short, red-haired, gray-eyed Scottish Lowlander and a devout but naive atheist.... The two meet when MacIan smashes the window of the street office where Turnbull publishes an atheist journal. This act of rage occurs when MacIan sees posted on the shop's window a sheet that blasphemes the Virgin Mary, presumably implying she was an adulteress who gave birth to an illegitimate Jesus. When MacIan challenges Turnbull to a duel to the death, Turnbull is overjoyed. For twenty years no one had paid the slightest attention to his Bible bashing. Now at last someone is taking him seriously! Most of the rest of the story is a series of comic events in which the two enemies wander about seeking a spot for their duel." MacIan and Turnbull become friends as they protect each other from interference from the modern world, which has trivialized their views over life's most important question (the existence of God) and outlawed their honorable duel. The irony is heightened when they both fall in love with ladies who happen to hold to their opponent's deepest convictions. Professor Lucifer and a Bulgarian monk also play important roles in this perennially relevant story. (Summary by Matthew Heckel)

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Ball and the Cross
• Author credits: G. K. Chesterton
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 20
• Listed recording duration: 8:35:51

Catalogue topics

• fiction
• fantasy
• religion
• atheism
• theology
• Catholicism
• duel
• insanity

Track guide

1. 01 - A Discussion Somewhat in the Air — 40:16
2. 02 - The Religion of the Stipendiary Magistrate — 30:41
3. 03 - Some Old Curiosities — 26:22
4. 04 - A Discussion at Dawn — 28:27
5. 05 - The Peacemaker — 14:33
6. 06 - The Other Philosopher — 28:10
7. 07 - The Village of Grassley-in-the-Hole — 20:21
8. 08 - An Interlude of Argument — 15:34
9. 09 - The Strange Lady — 33:35
10. 10 - The Swords Rejoined — 38:14
11. 11 - A Scandal in the Village — 31:32
12. 12 - The Desert Island — 18:19
13. 13 - The Garden of Peace — 18:47
14. 14 - A Museum of Souls — 30:51
15. 15 - The Dream of MacIan — 15:27
16. 16 - The Dream of Turnbull — 23:52
17. 17 - The Idiot — 32:11
18. 18 - A Riddle of Faces — 26:56
19. 19 - The Last Parley — 16:56
20. 20 - Dies Irae — 24:56

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.