The Ball and the Cross

In some dystopic future, a confirmed atheist and an avid catholic find each other's beliefs so intolerable they agree to fight a duel - a violent combat that their hectoring discussions on everything from politics to theology seems always to defer. Along the way the two passionate protagonists meet a variety of weird and fantastic characters that, for any number of dubious reasons, seek either to aid or hinder the duelists. This is one of G K Chesterton's finest novels, full of wit and insight, and packed to the gunnels with farce and poetry. 'The Ball and the Cross' defies ordinary literary classification, but might best be described as an allegorical Sci-Fi fantasy, with much thoughtful - and thought-provoking - comment on the nature of political and religious conflicts.