Marx the First

Novel by Bruce Marshall.

Marx the First

First edition

Author| Bruce Marshall
Cover artist| Gérard Lecoeur
Publisher| Constable

Publication date

| 1975
Publication place| Scotland
Media type| Print (hardback)
Pages| 181
ISBN| 0-09-460640-4
Preceded by| Urban the Ninth
Followed by| Peter the Second

Marx the First is a 1973 novel by Scottish writer Bruce Marshall. It is the second novel of a three volume series. Urban the Ninth is the first and Peter the Second the final.[1]

## Plot summary

[edit]

In this Catholic comic thriller Pope Marx the First returns to the Vatican after being thought lost in an air crash two years previous. He takes over from Cardinal Stephen, who had been elected as Urban IX, an "accidental Pope" during the time Marx was thought lost.

Pope Marx, a very liberal Catholic, plans to make many radical changes to Catholic teaching, practices and doctrines. Stephen, who opposes these planned changes, is now serving as the Vatican's Secretary of State so that the Pope "can keep his eye on him."

The mother superior of a religious order is attempting to get the order's founder canonised. A number of miraculous occurrences happen and some say these events are due to the founder's intercession while others contest this. This leads to diplomatic friction between the USSR, Spain, The United Kingdom and the Vatican.[2]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "New Novels". Catholic Herald magazine. 12 March 1976. Retrieved 24 April 2013.
2. ^ Marshall, B: Marx the First Doubleday & Company, Inc. Garden City, New York 1975.

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Works by Bruce Marshall

Novels|

* A Thief in the Night (ca 1918)
* This Sorry Scheme (1924)
* The Stooping Venus (1926)
* Teacup Terrace (1926)
* And There Were Giants (1927)
* The Other Mary (1927)
* High Brows (1929)
* The Little Friend (1929)
* The Rough House, a possibility (1930)
* Children of This Earth (1930)
* Father Malachy's Miracle (1931)
* Prayer for the Living (1934)
* The Uncertain Glory (1935)
* Canon to the Right of Them (1936)
* Luckypenny (1937)
* Delilah Upside Down, a Tract, with a Thrill (1941)
* Yellow Tapers for Paris (1943)
* The World, the Flesh, and Father Smith (1944)
* George Brown's Schooldays (1946)
* Vespers in Vienna (1947)
* To Every Man a Penny (1949)
* The Fair Bride (1953)
* Only Fade Away (1954)
* Girl in May (1956)
* The Accounting (1958)
* A Thread of Scarlet (1959)
* The Divided Lady (1960)
* A Girl from Lübeck (1962)
* The Month of the Falling Leaves (1963)
* Father Hilary's Holiday (1965)
* The Bishop (1970)
* The Black Oxen (1972)
* Urban the Ninth (1973)
* Operation Iscariot (1974)
* Marx the First (1975)
* Peter the Second (1976)
* The Yellow Streak (1977)
* Prayer for a Concubine (1978)
* Flutter in the Dovecote (1986)
* A Foot in the Grave (1987)
* An Account of Capers (1988)

Non-fiction|

* The White Rabbit (1953)
* Thoughts of My Cats (1954)

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