SOURCE: “The Religious Trilogy,” in Compton Mackenzie: An Appraisal of His Literary Work, The Richards Press, 1954, pp. 107-14.

In the following essay, Robertson explores the main features of Mackenzie's religious trilogy—The Altar Steps, The Parson's Progress, and The Heavenly Ladder.

In 1922 Compton Mackenzie published The Altar Steps, the first of a trilogy of novels of which the remaining two are The Parson's Progress (1923) and The Heavenly Ladder (1924), in which he tells the life-story of Mark Lidderdale, the son of James Lidderdale, a bigoted and dour Anglican clergyman who stubbornly refused to come to any compromise in regard to certain High Church ceremonies and observances in which he indulged in his Mission Church in Lima Street, Notting Hill Dale.

The external events of Mark's life are simple enough, consisting chiefly of his part in the daily routine of clerical work in the various parishes tried out by him...