Cover of The Secret of Father Brown

G. K. Chesterton1927Mystery

The Secret of Father Brown

The Secret of Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton has 62,994 words, about 4 h 12 min of reading.

words
62,994
Reading time
4 h 12 min
Listening time
6 h 46 min

Standard Longer than 25% of the other 735 books here.

Compare with another bookAll books by G. K. Chesterton

At a glance

Short story collection by G. K. Chesterton.

Author
G. K. Chesterton1874–1936
First published
1927
Original language
English
Genre
Mystery
Readers
Adult
Length
Standard40,000 to 80,000 words

How long it takes to read

About 4 h 12 min at 250 words a minute, or 6 h 46 min as an audiobook.

Reading speedWhole bookAt 30 minutes a day
Careful200 words a minute5 h 15 min11 days
Average250 words a minute4 h 12 min9 days
Fast300 words a minute3 h 30 min7 days

The Secret of Father Brown

Read or listen

The Secret of Father Brown is in the public domain: these editions are free to download, read and share.

More by G. K. Chesterton

All books by G. K. Chesterton

Compared with other books

The books closest in length, and a few well-known ones for scale.

  1. 1War and PeaceLeo Tolstoy587,287Compare
  2. 2The Fellowship of the RingJ. R. R. Tolkien177,227Compare
  3. 3Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen121,970Compare
  4. 4Harry Potter and the Philosopher's StoneJ. K. Rowling76,944Compare
  5. 5Mrs DallowayVirginia Woolf63,422Compare
  6. 6The Amazing Maurice and His Educated RodentsTerry Pratchett63,231Compare
  7. 7The Secret of Father BrownG. K. Chesterton62,994
  8. 8A Nobleman's NestIvan Sergeevich Turgenev62,861Compare
  9. 9All Quiet on the Western FrontErich Maria Remarque62,839Compare
  10. 10The Great GatsbyF. Scott Fitzgerald47,094Compare

Counted from the text

Automated estimates from the selected Project Gutenberg text; it may include a preface or notes.

Words in the text
63,024
Dialogue
57%of the words are inside quotation marks
Average sentence
17.4 words
Vocabulary
425 different words in every 1,000Distinct words in the sampled text; this does not measure writing quality.

Where the numbers come from

The word count comes from the sources below.

The word count is Standard Ebooks’ count of its edition; the figures under “Counted from the text” are Musael’s own count of the Project Gutenberg text.

Checked on 2026-10-27. Page counts change from edition to edition. Cover from Open Library; the edition shown may differ.

Questions

How many words is The Secret of Father Brown?

The Secret of Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton has 62,994 words.

How long does it take to read The Secret of Father Brown?

About 4 h 12 min at 250 words a minute, or 6 h 46 min as an audiobook.

How many days to read The Secret of Father Brown at 30 minutes a day?

About 9 days at an average reading speed.

Who wrote The Secret of Father Brown?

The Secret of Father Brown was written by G. K. Chesterton and first published in 1927.

Writing a book of your own?

Musael counts every chapter as you write, keeps the plan beside the draft and checks names and facts across the book.

Start writing