Loss and Gain is a philosophical novel which depicts the culture of Oxford University in the mid-Victorian era and the conversion of a young student to Roman Catholicism. Charles Reding arrives at Oxford University planning to follow the advice and example of his father, and to submit to the teachings of the Church of England without becoming involved in any factious parties. To follow the right views, Reding seeks a source of Church authority, and is disappointed to find only party dissension and the Protestant doctrine of Private Judgment. He begins to have doubts about some aspects of his faith, giving him thoughts of conversion, which greatly excite and trouble him.

John Henry Newman (1801-1890) was an English theologian, scholar and poet, first an Anglican priest and later a Catholic priest and cardinal, who was an important and controversial figure in the religious history of England in the 19th century.