“It’s a muddle, thought Monica. A muddle and I can’t get it straight. I wish I knew what I should do. I wish I even knew what I want to do…I want to go on in the life that has somehow or other found me and claimed me. And I want so terribly to be happy. Oh god, don’t let me slip under the surface of all the heavy-hearted dullness that seems to claim so many people.”

A Mixture of Frailties is so much more than the story of Monica Gall’s life in London and her education as a singer. It is an account of her education as a human being, and the result is an absorbing novel, comic in the true sense, vivid and frequently moving.

The following announcement appeared in the Salterton Evening Bellman: “Professor and Mrs. Walter Vambrace are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter, Pearl Veronica, to Solomon Bridgetower, Esq., son of…” Although the malice that prompted the insertion of this false engagement notice was aimed at three people only–Solly Bridgetower, a junior instructor in English at Waverly University; Pearl Vambrace, the subdued daughter of a domineering professor; and Gloster Ridley, the anxiety-ridden editor of the Evening Bellman–the leaven of malice will change permanently, for good or ill, the lives of many of the citizens of Salterton.

In the second book of the Salterton Trilogy, Robertson Davies jumps at the opportunity this situation provides to create memorable characters and lasting impressions.

Connor Gilmartin’s inauspicious, but much beloved, mortal life comes to an untimely end when he discovers his wife in bed with one of his more ludicrous associates, Randall Allard Going. Death becomes a bit complicated when Gilmartin’s out-of-body experience stays an out-of-body experience. Enraged at being so unceremoniously cut down, he avenges himself against his now panic-stricken murderer.

An amateur production of The Tempest provides a colorful backdrop for a hilarious look at unrequited love. Mathematics teacher Hector Mackilwraith, stirred and troubled by Shakespeare’s play, falls in love with the beautiful heiress Griselda Webster. When Griselda shows she has plans of her own, Hector despairs on the play’s opening night.

Weaving a tapestry of wonderfully developed characters, smoldering rivalries, and witty satire, Robertson Davies introduces the first book in theSalterton trilogy–a modern classic.

For years, Robertson Davies has won acclaim for his warmth and wisdom, humor and bravura. Now Canada’s leading man of letters crowns an astonishing literary career with a novel in the spirit of his best-selling Murther & Walking Spirits. “Should I have taken the false teeth?” This is what Dr. Jonathan Hullah, a police surgeon with “a high degree of cunning,” wonders after he signs the death certificate for St. Aidan’s Father Hobbes.What made the good father drop dead while celebrating Communion? In his search for the answer, Hullah whisks us back on a tour of his own rich and colorful life. From his adventures in the Royal Canadian Army to his relationship with a butter sculptress, from his medical secrets to his circle of friends-including outrageous banker Darcy-Hullah revels in the divine comedy of life and, not incidentally, solves a murder. The Cunning Man is enormous entertainment from the first Canadian Honorary Member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.

From an early age, Jonathan Hullah developed “a high degree of cunning” in concealing what his true nature might be. He kept himself on the outside, watching and noticing, most often in the company of those who bore watching.

As the Cunning Man takes us through his own long and ardent life, chronicling his varied adventures in the worlds of theatre, art, and music, in the Canadian Army during World War II, and in the doctor’s consulting room, his preoccupation is not with sorrow but with the comedic canvas of life.

Just as Dr. Hullah practices a type of psychosomatic medicine “by which I attempt to bring about changes in the disease syndromes through language,” so does Robertson Davies intertwine language and story, as perhaps never before, to offer us profound truths about being human.

The Cornish Foundation is thriving under the directorship of Arthur Cornish when he and his beguiling wife, Maria Theotoky, decide to undertake a project worthy of the late art expert, collector, and notable eccentric Francis Cornish, whose vast fortune endows the Foundation. It is decided that the Foundation will fund the doctoral work of one Hulda Schnakenburg, a grumpy, remarkably unattractive, and extraordinarily talented music student. Her task is to complete the score of an unfinished opera by the Romantic composer E. T. A. Hoffmann. Additionally, and against all common sense, the Foundation will endeavor to stage the opera, entitledArthur of Britain, or The Magnanimous Cuckold. The scholarly priest Simon Darcourt finds himself charged with writing the libretto.

As the production takes shape, complications both practical and emotional arise: the gypsy in Maria’s blood rises with a vengeance; Darcourt stoops to petty crime; and various others indulge in perjury, blackmail, and other unsavory pursuits. Hoffman’s dictum, “The lyre of Orpheus opens the door of the underworld,” proves all too true–especially when the long-hidden secrets of Francis Cornish himself are finally revealed.

A goodhearted priest and scholar, a professor with a passion for the darker side of medieval psychology, a defrocked monk, and a rich young businessman who inherits some troublesome paintings are all helplessly beguiled by the same coed. The story is set in motion by the death of art collector Francis Cornish, and Robertson Davies weaves together the destinies of this remarkable cast of characters in smooth, lyrical prose, creating a wise and witty portrait of love, murder, and scholarship at a modern university.

Narrated by two angels acting as commentators on Francis’ life, this novel is a curious blend of fable, religion, and mythology.

Francis Cornish was always good at keeping secrets. From the well-hidden family secret of his childhood to his mysterious encounters with a small-town embalmer, an expert art restorer, a Bavarian countess, and various masters of espionage, the events in Francis’ life were not always what they seemed.

In this wonderfully ingenious portrait of an art expert and collector of international renown, Robertson Davies has created a spellbinding tale of artistic triumph and heroic deceit. It is a tale told in stylish, elegant prose and endowed with lavish portions of Davies’ wit and wisdom.