This novel was written between 1899 and 1908, but was not published until 1922. The story concerns a disenchanted public schoolboy, Ambrose Meyrick, who embarks on a quest for the meaning of life after becoming entranced by tales of the Holy Grail. The last two chapters, in which the Grail is retrieved, were omitted from the 1922 edition and remained unpublished during the author’s lifetime.
The novel draws on themes of Celtic mysticism and was much admired by the poet John Betjeman, who mentions it in his poem ‘Summoned by Bells’.