Widely considered Chesterton's masterpiece, The Man Who Was Thursday (subtitled 'A Nightmare' by Chesterton) is rooted firmly in its time and place - a phantasmagoric turn-of-the-century London where police are poets and anarchists abound.

Our hero, Police Detective (and poet) Gabriel Syme, is chosen by Scotland Yard to undertake a top secret undercover mission: he must infiltrate the Central European Council of Anarchists. Each of the seven-member Council goes by the name of a weekday, and Syme himself is elected 'Thursday'. Syme must avoid discovery, undo his many colleagues, and save the world. But the further he is drawn into this world beyond humanity, the more he fears the worst - what if the council are on the side of right?