Best Selling Books by Robertson Davies

Robertson Davies always wanted to call this book of his "The Merry Heart. Now, within a year of his death, the wish is fulfilled, and fittingly by a selection of his writings that he had already planned with his publisher. The result is a selection of vintage Davies, full of the shrewd relish for life that was his hallmark. At the time of his death, readers around the world mourned the loss of a great writer with a unique and instantly recognisable style. Although we shall not see another Davies novel, we can all rejoice that there is another new book that is pure distilled Davies. His utterly distinctive voice resounds here from every line. "To ask an author who hopes to be a serious writer if his work is autobiographical is like asking a spider where he buys his thread" is one of his memorable aphorisms here. As close to an autobiography as we can ever expect, this collection of reminiscences, speeches, book reviews, parodies, and essays tells us a great deal about the writer and the man. The introductions to each of the twenty-four chapters add further biographical details, followed by tantalizing fragments from Davies'' own unpublished diary. But the strength of the book lies in its stimulating contents. Every chapter is an education for the reader, as it provides the pleasure of browsing through Davies'' richly stocked mind. Whether he is discussing art fakes, his schooldays, the differences between Canadians and Americans, Thackeray, Ibsen, "The Little Red Hen, or "Ulysses, this collection gathers his reflections on books, on writing, on reading, on his own writing, on other authors and much else, into a fascinating whole. The result is a tonic, a provocation, and adelight.

The enthusiasm of Robertson Davies for the spirit of Mr Punch has taken witty form in this entertainment which Dr Davies wrote for the Preparatory School boys of Upper Canada College, Toronto. The incidents associated with the traditional Punch Show are all here, but they are witnessed and criticized by uncomprehending spokesmen for the modern theatre - newspaper critics, television producers, one playwright representing the school of "American Southern Decadence" and a member of the Board of Directors of the Stratford Festival. Mr Punch is not at all confounded by their cherished believes, even when each spokesman tries to bring him up to date in his own way. But Mr Punch will not be changed, and he emerges triumphant at the end, having been told of a whole new world to conquer.

Woven around the pursuits of the energetic spirits and erudite scholars of the University of St. John and the Holy Ghost, this dazzling trilogy of novels lures the reader into a world of mysticism, historical allusion, and gothic fantasy that could only be the invention of Canada''s grand man of letters.

Play set during the 1837 rebellion in Upper Canada.

Dr. Jonathan Hullah is a "cunning man," one who will help almost all infirmities of mind and body, and enjoys a reputation as a brilliant, if unorthodox, diagnostician. Earlier in his career, Hullah was present at the death of Father Hobbes, who died while celebrating Communion. Prompted by a journalist''s questions about this mysterious death, Hullah begins to reflect on his past and the other mysteries he has encountered, medical and spiritual.

The first of three linked novels, the second being The manticore and the third, World of wonders.