Children of This Earth
Bruce Marshall
 John Glenuff is the son of a wealthy Scottish family with deep and powerful religious feelings. He studies to become a minister and is assigned to a conservative Anglican church in London. He is troubled by the sin and lack of religious belief he sees and dreams of bringing all to Christ. A wealthy and beautiful young girl pursues him and he is distraught when he almost succumbs to her. Walking home through Leicester Square afterwards he is propositioned by Dorothy, an attractive young prostitute. On the spot he decides to marry her in order to “save her soul.” And, despite his superiors’ objections, he does so. Church officials transfer him to an Anglican parish in Paris to minimize scandal, but his religious fervor and grandiose plans soon alienate the congregation. His marriage also deteriorates as he finds Dorothy extremely resistant to his preaching. As the novel ends, Glenuff believes that he has developed stigmata and thinks that these will finally enable him to convert the world, but it turns out that he is the only one who can see the signs.