Converts

Why did Catholicism attract so many unlikely converts in Britain during the twentieth century? The twentieth century is understood as an era of growing, inexorable secularism, yet in Britain between the 1890s and the 1960s there was a marked turn to Rome. In the first half of the century, Catholicism became an intellectual and spiritual fashion attracting more than half a million converts, including fascinating artists, writers, and thinkers. What drew these men and women to join the church, and what difference did conversion make to them? Melanie McDonagh examines the lives of these notable converts from the perspective of their faith.