Loss and Gain - Newman's novel of conversion and conflicting loyalties in mid-nineteenth century Oxford - was first written in 1847 to help a publisher newly-converted to Catholicism. It expresses something of the feeling behind the Catholic revival which Newman certainly shared, had indeed done much to rouse - a rebellion against the values of an easy-going, self-satisfied world and a passionate desire to go beyond its sensible and respectable virtues. But Loss and Gain is set in this daylight country and is remembered by its readers for ironic observation, for the delightful nonsense of the quartet of super-Catholic young things who imagine themselves monks and nuns while they are falling in love with each other; for the pious discomfort of the evangelical tea-party and the dotty variations on the theme of religious cranks who invade Charles' seclution in London; remembered too for the glimpses of the Oxford Newman loved so much, seen thorugh his eyes, and the sly references to himself.