Chesterton, Gilbert Keith (1874–1936) is a recognized classic of English literature, one of the most brilliant writers of the first half of the 20th century. His novels and numerous essays have become classics, but the stories about Father Brown, a quiet, shy priest who masterfully solves the most intricate mysteries and crimes, brought him the love of the mass reader. The publication of these stories, which began in 1911 with the collection “The Ignorance of Father Brown,” took a good long time a quarter of a century, turning into a detective epic. Its wise and unassuming hero does not give brilliant lectures in the spirit of Hercule Poirot and does not create great theories like Sherlock Holmes. He does not even always strive to punish the criminal, but with humble irony and constant grace he puts everything in its place. This publication, representing a complete collection of stories about Father Brown and his other collections of short prose will undoubtedly be a real gift for all lovers of English literature and high-quality detective prose. In addition, this edition includes all six classic novels of the writer and, for the first time in Russian translation, two early works: discovered after century of oblivion, the youth novel “Basil Howe”, as well as the novel-burime “Our Prospects”, unfinished by members of the “Club of Beginning Debators”, the founder of which was Chesterton during his school years. According to Chesterton, as a young man, he became interested in the occult and, together with his brother Cecil, experimented with Ouija boards, but in 1922 converted to Catholicism and devoted himself to promoting Christian values. Chesterton loved debates, therefore, friendly public disputes often took place with Bernard Shaw, Herbert Wells, Bertrand Russell, Clarence Darrow. According to his autobiography, he and Bernard Shaw played cowboys in a silent film that was never released. Chesterton showed early interest and talent in the arts. He planned to become an artist, and his vision as a writer shows an ability to transform abstract ideas into concrete and memorable images. Even in his fiction, parables are carefully hidden. He defined the “main idea” of his life as awakening the ability to be amazed, to see the world as if for the first time. His artistic “argumentation” was based on eccentricity and an emphasis on the unusual and fantastic. Chesterton's paradoxes were a common sense test of popular opinions. The writer is extraordinary topical, a newspaperman in the best sense of the word, he appears to readers as a deep and original thinker in his numerous historical, literary and theological works. This edition includes only a small fraction of Chesterton’s works of the religious and philosophical direction - two essays and the treatise “The Eternal Man,” which Graham Greene once called the best book written in the twentieth century. “The Eternal Man” is an outline of the history of mankind from a Christian point of view, and will be of interest to anyone interested in philosophy, cultural history and religion. Contents: STORIES OF FATHER BROWN (collection series) PARADOXES OF MR POND (collection) THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (collection) AMAZING CRAFTS CLUB (collection)HUNTING STORIES (collection)FIVE RIGHTEOUS CRIMINALS (collection)POET AND MAD MEN (from the collection)NOVELSNapoleon of NottinghillThe Man Who Was ThursdayThe Ball and the CrossLiving Man The Passing TavernReturn of Don Quixote EARLY WORKSBasil HoweOur ProspectsESSAYIf I were given just one sermon to readGod with the Golden Key TREATISEEternal Man