“…all of us…are primarily interested in murder and love-making.” #gkchesterton ~20BOS26 Book 21

I’ve always been fond of a good essay, and a search through the archives of the Ramblings would no doubt reveal a number of essay collections I’ve covered. Some of these would have been via indie publisher Michael Walmer’s ‘Belles-Lettres‘ series (Oscar Wilde, Winifred Holtby and Ouida) and so I was delighted to see that Mike was issuing a new book in the series – “The Defendant” by G.K. Chesterton. Chesterton is best remembered nowadays for his Father Brown detective stories which are still immensely popular, including a recent TV adaptation. He also wrote some rather strange novels (two of which “The Man Who Was Thursday” and “The Club of Queer Trades” I can be sure of having read). However, I don’t think I was aware that he’d written essays too, and the ones featured in this volume come from early his career and were originally published in “The Speaker”. Sixteen of those pieces were gathered together in “The Defendant” and in them, Chesterton set out to defend aspects of society…