Ramsay is a man twice born, a man who has returned from the hell of the battle-grave at Passchendaele in World War I decorated with the Victoria Cross and destined to be caught in a no man's land where memory, history, and myth collide. As Ramsay tells his story, it begins to seem that from boyhood, he has exerted a perhaps mystical, perhaps pernicious, influence on those around him. His apparently innocent involvement in such innocuous events as the throwing of a snowball or the teaching of card tricks to a small boy in the end prove neither innocent nor innocuous.

Fifth Business stands alone as a remarkable story told by a rational man who discovers that the marvelous is only another aspect of the real.

In the small university town of Salterton, Ontario, dreams are quietly taking shape, or falling apart. There's the Salterton Little Theatre Company, in which professional director Valentine Rich is tormented by the amateurish efforts of his actors. The families Vambrace and Bridgetower almost go to war over a fake notice of engagement in the local paper. And a family fortune is lavished on an aspiring singer because there is no male heir to claim it. Tracing the lives and incidents of a small community in the middle of the last century, The Salterton Trilogy peels off the public veneer of geniality and respectability to reveal the private passions simmering beneath.

When Father Hobbes mysteriously dies at the high altar on Good Friday, Dr Jonathan Hullah - whose holistic ideas have earned him the soubriquet 'cunning man' - wants to know why. But it is only through looking back at his own long life that answers are forthcoming. He recalls the dazzling intellectual high jinks of his circle of friends, from the High Church homosexual Darcy Dwyer (an expert on the theory of sin) to the curious occurrence of the Coburg Social Parlour's Seventh Annual Bad Breath Contest. Compelling and hilarious, The Cunning Man is a profound exploration of what it means to be an actor in the divine comedy of life.

Robertson Davies has been called the most important Canadian playwright of the postwar period. These two plays from the 1940s prove that great writing and important themes never go out of style.

Hailed by the "Washington Post Book World" as ?a modern classic, ? Robertson Davies's acclaimed Deptford Trilogy is a glittering, fantastical, cunningly contrived series of novels, around which a mysterious death is woven. "World of Wonders"?the third book in the series after "The Manticore"?follows the story of Magnus Eisengrim?the most illustrious magician of his age?who is spirited away from his home by a member of a traveling sideshow, the Wanless World of Wonders. After honing his skills and becoming better known, Magnus unfurls his life's courageous and adventurous tale in this third and final volume of a spectacular, soaring work.
?Robertson Davies is one of the great modern novelists.?
?Malcolm Bradbury, "The Sunday Times" (London)
?Robertson Davies is a novelist whose books are thick and rich with humor, character and incident. They are plotted with skill and much flamboyance.? ?"The Observer" (London)

Hailed by the Washington Post Book World as "a modern classic," Robertson Davies's acclaimed Deptford Trilogy is a glittering, fantastical, cunningly contrived series of novels, around which a mysterious death is woven. The Manticore--the second book in the series after Fifth Business--follows David Staunton, a man pleased with his success but haunted by his relationship with his larger-than-life father. As he seeks help through therapy, he encounters a wonderful cast of characters who help connect him to his past and the death of his father.

The University of St John and the Holy Ghost (known affectionately as Spook) has a problem - and an opportunity. Strange, eccentric art patron and collector Francis Cornish has died and faculty members have been made executors of his complicated will. But in the realization of their duties, they find themselves drawn into Cornish's bizarre, secretive and mystical world. In this spellbinding trilogy a host of memorable characters - defrocked, mischief-making monks, half-mad professors, gypsies and musical geniuses - become entangled in a story that involves theft, perjury, scholarship, murder, love, and the squandering of plenty of cash.

At two minutes to six on December 27th 1908 the lives of three people become inextricably bound together by the trajectory of a snowball. There is ten-year old Dunstable Ramsay, intended victim of the snowball, who, fatefully, ducks; his 'lifelong friend and enemy' Percy Boyd Staunton, angered by their recent quarrel, who hurls the snowball; and Paul Dempster, prematurely born when his pregnant mother is struck by Percy's icy missile. Tracing the rich and varied lives of these three individuals, The Deptford Trilogy lures the reader down labyrinthine tunnels of myth, history and magic in one of the most beguiling, clever and cunning trilogies ever written.

The College of St. John and Holy Ghost, dormant and subdued by its academic life, is revolutionized by the return of the brilliant and evil Professor Parlabane and by the complicated inheritance the university has just received from Arthur Cornish, one of the most important Canadian art collectors of the twentieth century. The suspicions among the executors of Cornish's will--professors Hollier, McVarnish and Darcourt--reach a boiling point when an unedited Rabelais manuscript is discovered among the objects in the will, and the greed brought about by the coveted manuscript will reveal each of the novel's characters' true colors. With this tale of intrigue, Davies takes us on a tour of academic life, arts patronage, alchemy, collectorship, and the gypsy tradition. Although it can be read independently, this novel is the first installment of The Cornish Trilogy. "La Universidad de San Juan y el Espiritu Santo, adormecida en su absorbente vida academica, se revoluciona con el regreso del brillante y malvado profesor Parlabane y con el complicado legado que la universidad acaba de recibir de Arthur Cornish, uno de los mas importantes coleccionistas de arte canadienses del siglo XX. Las suspicacias entre los albaceas del testamento de Cornish--los profesores Hollier, McVarish y Darcourt--se acrecientan al descubrir entre los objetos del legado un manuscrito inedito de Rabelais. La codicia que va a desatar el preciado manuscrito revelara el verdadero caracter de cada uno de los personajes de la novela. Con esta historia de intriga Davies nos pasea por la vida academica, el mecenazgo, la alquimia, el coleccionismo, y la tradicion gitana. Aunque puede ser leida independientemente, esta novela es el primer libro de la Trilogia de Cornish."

The mysterious circumstances surrounding the magnate Boy Staunton's death are solved after an exploration of seemingly innocent actions that will reveal themselves as defining moments in the life of Paul Dempster, a child from Deptford whom Stauntaon had known during his childhood and who would eventually become Magnus Eisengrim, the most famous illusionist of his time. Eisengrim will narrate his life, offering his own particular vision of Staunton's death, and explaining how he learned his trade and became a world-famous illusionist. His tale will reveal how the path to success can often be more difficult and tragic than it appears, and how a brilliant figure can also have a dark part. Although it can be read independently, this novel is the third installment of The Deptford Trilogy. "Eel misterio que rodea la muerte del magnate Boy Staunton es resuelto luego de la exploracion de acciones en apariencia inocentes que se revelaran como acontecimientos decisivos en la vida de Paul Dempster, un nino de Deptford al que Staunton habia conocido en su infancia y que se convertiria en Magnus Eisengrim, el prestidigitador mas famoso de su epoca. Eisengrim narrara su vida, ofreciendo su particular vision de la muerte de Staunton, y explicando como aprendio su oficio y llego a convertirse en un ilusionista de fama mundial. Su relato revelara hasta que punto el camino hacia el exito es mas arduo y tragico de lo que parece a simple vista, y como una figura brillante puede contar tambien con un pasado oscuro. Aunque puede ser leida independientemente, esta novela es el tercer libro de la Trilogia de Deptford."

A fake announcement in the local newspaper regarding an engagement between a young man and woman from Salterton's high society revolutionizes life in the city. The alleged bride's father, Professor Vambrace, is not willing to forgive an offense he considers insulting, and his planned lawsuit against the paper could have unpredictable consequences. Meanwhile, a storm is brewing in the editorial department at the "Evening Bellman," in which its affable director, the owner's intriguing daughter-in-law, and a veteran editor find themselves immersed. The rest of the city buzzes with rumors as the residents ponder what role the crazy organ player and the new choir teacher have in the scandal.""This second installation in the Salterton Trilogy and the sequel to "Tempest-Tost" portrays peaceful provincial life in a Canadian city with masterful irony. "Un anuncio falso en un periodico local de un compromiso matrimonial entre dos jovenes de la alta sociedad de Salterton revoluciona la vida en la ciudad. El padre de la supuesta novia, el profesor Vambrace, no esta dispuesto a olvidar una ofensa que el considera injuriosa y su anunciada demanda podria tener consecuencias impredecibles. Mientras tanto, en la redaccion del "Evening Bellman" se desata una tormenta en la que se ven inmersos su afable director, la intrigante nuera del dueno del periodico y uno de los redactores mas veteranos. El resto de la ciudad se convierte en un hervidero de rumores mientras los residentes se preguntan que tienen que ver en el escandalo el alocado organista de la catedral y un advenedizo profesor de canto." "Esta segunda instalacion en la Trilogia de Salterton y la continuacion de la novela "A merced de la tempestad" retrata con magistral ironia la tranquila vida provinciana de una ciudad canadiense."