However, he befriends the seminary director, Bishop Hamish McNabb, who comes to his assistance when Francis is nearly expelled from the seminary for having spent a night at a whore's house. This cements Francis's decision to join a seminary with childhood friend Anselm Mealey, where Francis's humanistic views cause problems for him. Nora later has a child out of wedlock, and, rather than marry a man she doesn't love, commits suicide. Francis falls in love with Nora, but is afraid to act on it. When the attempt fails, Willie's father contacts Aunt Polly, who takes Francis home to live with her and her daughter, Nora. Willie aids Francis in his attempt to run away. Tulloch's father is the local doctor and the family are the town's free-thinkers.

Things take a turn for the better when Francis befriends Willie Tulloch and his family. Francis is forced to quit school and work in a shipyard. While his grandfather is kind, Mrs Glennie and her son Malcolm are resentful and exploitative. Francis's maternal grandfather, a baker by trade, is also a preacher of his own branch of Christianity focused on universal tolerance, and plays a large role in the development of Francis's ideologies. Initially, his kindly Aunt Polly wishes to adopt him, but his maternal grandmother, Mrs Glennie, intervenes and adopts him, thereby receiving any money in the Chisholm's estate. After the father is beaten by an anti-Catholic mob, Chisholm's mother tries to lead him home to safety, only for them both to drown after falling off a bridge into a strong current, leaving young Francis an orphan. His father is a Catholic and his mother a non-denominational Protestant. The second section (Strange Vocation) focuses on Chisholm's youth. Due to his unconventional views, he is being investigated by Monsignor Sleeth. Father Francis Chisholm is an old man, living with a housekeeper and a young orphan. The novel has six parts, the first (The Beginning of the End) taking place in Scotland in 1938. Through a life guided by compassion and tolerance, Chisholm earns the respect of the Chinese-and of fellow clergy who would mistrust him-with his kindly, high-minded and courageous ways.

Beset by tragedy in his youth, as a missionary Chisholm endures many years of hardship, punctuated by famine, plague and war in the Chinese province to which he is assigned.

Spanning six decades, it tells the story of Father Francis Chisholm, an unconventional Scottish Catholic priest who struggles to establish a mission in China. The Keys of the Kingdom is a 1941 novel by A.

The Keys of the Kingdom by A.J. Cronin