The Cardinal's Snuff-Box is the first of Henry Harland's Catholic novels. If you ask me it's semi-autobiographical, but what do I know? The hero is an author who writes obscure books that no one reads. He is in love with a woman he's seen but never actually talked to and has immortalized her in one of his books. Now he's vacationing in Italy, and who should his landlady be but his anonymous ideal! But he's a rather annoying aesthete of the late 19th century variety, and it will take quite a bit of gentle persuasion by her Cardinal uncle-in-law (she's a widow) to get him to see the light and join the Catholic Church. Now if only those same avuncular skills could get those two together . . .

Much like Harland's My Friend Prospero, which I read last year, this is a book full of fluff. Don't read if you are in a serious mood, or looking for something deep and weighty, because this is not one of those books. However those looking for something quick and fun may want to seek it out (originally written in 1900, it's available for free on Project Gutenberg. ( )