The Higher Court - Paperback

by Mary Stewart Daggett (Author), Mint Editions (Contribution by)

The Higher Court (1911) is a novel of religion and romance by Mary Stewart Daggett, a writer well-known in her community of Pasadena, California whose work has yet to find the audience it deserves.

Father Barry, a young Catholic priest in the Midwest, is beginning to question his vows. A tense meeting with the local bishop, combined with a feeling of mental unease, have shaken Barry's faith to the core. Meanwhile, in the midst of a heavy blizzard, a letter arrives from Isabel Doan, a friend of Barry's from before he took his orders-she is stopping by to see him on her way to Southern California, where she is moving with her young son Reginald. When they arrive, Barry is shaken by a series of events-Reginald has come down with a terrible illness; news arrives of the death of his estranged mother; and his love for Isabel threatens to tear down the final vestige of his already fleeting faith. Faced with a choice, Father Barry abandons the cloth and travels to Europe, but he will soon find something stronger than religion to guide his heart back home.

Mary Stewart Daggett's The Higher Court interrogates tradition in order to get to the truth, while simultaneously illuminating the inexorable changes faced by the nation and world in the early-twentieth century.

This edition of Mary Stewart Daggett's The Higher Court is a newly unearthed classic of American literature reimagined for modern readers.

Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book.

With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.

Back Jacket

In the middle of a blizzard, a young priest receives a letter that will change his life forever. Forced to choose between faith and love, between a life of service and a life of freedom, Father Barry must face both doubt and fear in order to do what is right. The Higher Court is a novel by Mary Stewart Daggett, a largely unknown American author whose understanding of the human heart--and its common conflict with the soul--is guaranteed to satisfy readers looking for a writer of truly uncommon substance.