The Flying Inn

The Flying Inn

First UK edition
Author	G. K. Chesterton
Language	English
Genre	Speculative fiction, adventure, satire
Publisher	John Lane (US) Methuen (UK)
Publication date	1914
Publication place	United Kingdom
Media type	Print (Hardback)
Pages	320

The Flying Inn is a 1914 novel by English writer G. K. Chesterton. It is set in a future England where the temperance movement has allowed a bizarre form of Progressive Islam to dominate the political and social life of the country. Because of this, alcohol sales to the poor are effectively prohibited, while the rich can get alcoholic drinks "under a medical certificate". The plot centres on the adventures of Humphrey Pumph (see also the Humphrey pump) and Captain Patrick Dalroy, who roam the country in their cart with a barrel of rum in an attempt to evade prohibition, exploiting loopholes in the law to temporarily prevent the police taking action against them. Eventually the heroes and their followers foil an attempted coup by an Islamic military force.

The novel includes the poem, The Rolling English Road. The poem was first published under the title A Song of Temperance Reform in the New Witness in 1913.

References

• Bleiler, Everett (1948). The Checklist of Fantastic Literature (1st ed.). Chicago: Shasta Publishers. p. 76. LCCN 48006709. OCLC 1113926.
• Clark, Stephen R. L. (2006). G.K. Chesterton: thinking backward, looking forward. Templeton Foundation Press. p. 65. ISBN 978-1-59947-104-4.

External links

• The Flying Inn at Project Gutenberg
• Internet Archive version
• Google Books version (full view)
• The Flying Inn public domain audiobook at LibriVox
• Iain Benson(ed)"The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton"