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Robertson Davies

“With a sure comic touch, Davies assembles his cast of characters and lets them make fools of themselves . . . in the best Shakespearean tradition.”—The Emerald City Book Review
 
 Weaving a tapestry of wonderfully developed characters, smoldering rivalries, and witty satire, Robertson Davies introduces the first book in the Salterton Trilogy.

 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.

 “High comedy with a spice of satire to give it savor.”—Montreal Gazette

 “An exercise in puckish persiflage.”—Toronto Star

 “Hilarious, satirical, witty and clever.”—Edmonton Journal
 
 “By turns humorous and sympathetic, Davies shows us that he knows his stuff, even in this, his first book.”—AllReaders.com
 
 “It would not be a bad thing for more writers to read and be inspired by Davies’s example of intelligent, emotionally resonant fiction, or for more readers to discover its pleasures.”—The Emerald City Book Review

RosettaBooks

Salterton Trilogy

Tempest Tost

Available in one volume, all three books of the award-winning Salterton Trilogy: Tempest-Tost, Leaven of Malice, and A Mixture of Frailties.

Visit the quaint town of Salterton, Ontario, and the enigmatic lives of those who inhabit it . . .

Tempest-Tost. 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.

Leaven of Malice. Winner of the Leacock Medal, awarded for the best in Canadian literary humor. A malicious false engagement notice between locals Solly Bridgetower and Pearl Vambrace leads to permanent changes, for good or ill, in the lives of many citizens of Salterton.

A Mixture of Frailties. Louisa Bridgetower, the imposing Salterton matron, has died. The substantial income from her estate is to be used to send an unmarried young woman to Europe to pursue an education in the arts. Monica Gall, an almost entirely unschooled singer soon finds herself in England, as she gradually blossoms from a Canadian rube to a cosmopolitan soprano with a unique—and tragicomic—career.

Praise for the Salterton Trilogy

“Full of zest, wit and urbanity.”—The New York Times

 “High comedy with a spice of satire to give it savor.”—Montreal Gazette

 “An exercise in puckish persiflage.”—Toronto Star

 “Hilarious, satirical, witty and clever.”—Edmonton Journal

Salterton Trilogy Omnibus

The Salterton Trilogy continues with a novel “full of zest, wit and urbanity” from the celebrated Canadian author of Tempest-Tost and the Cornish novels (The New York Times).
 
 Returning to the town he first visited in Tempest-Tost, Davies continues to explore the lives of its inhabitants in this winner of the Leacock Medal, awarded for the best in Canadian literary humor.

 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 this false engagement notice was aimed at three people only—Solly Bridgetower, Pearl Vambrace, and Gloster Ridley, the anxiety-ridden local newspaper editor—before the leaven of malice had ceased to work it had changed permanently, for good or ill, the lives of many citizens of Salterton.
 
Praise for Robertson Davies
 
 “Invention has always been Robertson Davies’s strength. He tells terrific stories that twist around and double back on themselves in surprising ways and, characteristically, combines them with intriguing, arcane information.”—The New York Times
 
 “Davies’ fiction is animated by his scorn for the ironclad systems that claim to explain the whole of life. Messy, magical, high-spirited life bubbles up between the cracks.”—South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Leaven of Malice

Salterton Trilogy - The book series

Salterton Trilogy - The book series

Salterton Trilogy books in order

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