Lloyd Douglas spent thirty full years in the ministry before he retired to devote himself to writing. His novels are written with the purpose of inspiration, and he says he is "more concerned with healing bruised spirits than winning the applause of critics." Actually he succeeds magnificently in doing both, as you will know when you have read "White Banners," the story of a servant girl who hail a theory of behavior so practical and so unusual that you will come to ask yourself in times of trouble, "How would Hannah have solved my problem?" Since the publication in 1929 of his first novel, "Magnificent Obsession," his books achieved an ever wider popularity. More than 7,000,000 copies of Lloyd Douglas' books were sold —over 2,000,000 of "The Robe" alone.