When Father Hobbes mysteriously dies at the high alter on Good Friday, Dr. Jonathan Hullah – whose holistic work has earned him the label “Cunning Man” (for the wizard of folk tradition) – wants to know why. The physician-cum-diagnostician’s search for answers compels him to look back over his own long life. He conjures vivid memories of the dazzling, intellectual high jinks and compassionate philosophies of himself and his circle, including flamboyant, mystical curate Charlie Iredale; cynical, quixotic professor Brocky Gilmartin; outrageous banker Darcy Dwyer; and jocular, muscular artist Pansy Todhunter. In compelling and hilarious scenes from the divine comedy of life, The Cunning Man reveals profound truth about being human.
Editorial Reviews
“A delight, a novel that travels 70 years of history on its own swift feet, a book of love and wisdom, loss and irony” —The Boston Sunday Globe
“[O]ne of the most learned, amusing…accomplished novelists of our time and…of our century.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Urbanity, wit, and high seriousness, mixed by a master chef.” —The Cleveland Plain Dealer
“Davies's embracing energy and his eye for the telling detail drive this story of an idiosyncratic doctor and his friends. It is a crafty, wayward and engrossing tale.” —San Francisco Chronicle
About the Author
Robertson Davies (1913-1995) had three successive careers during the time he became an internationally acclaimed author: actor, publisher, and, finally, professor at the University of Toronto. The author of twelve novels and several volumes of essays and plays, he was the first Canadian to be inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
