Will I love Fifth Business?

Dunstan Ramsey is not supposed to be the main character, but the story cannot survive without him.

Ramsey drew my affection during my impressionable thirties. He was modest and kind, and showed an inner strength that was expressed with patience and good humor. He also represented a dramatic figure who was new to me, the obscure hero who stands outside of the spotlight and causes important things to happen.

Ramsey’s story is full and nuanced enough to enrich three complete novels, The Deptford Trilogy, each with its own kind heroes, though not so modest as Ramsey himself.

I came across this book in the window display of a small bookshop, attracted by the hint of Tarot card in the cover design. The baggy-eyed shop owner told me he'd been up most of the previous night reading it and was eager to share it with the world. Well, after the first couple of chapters, I was gripped by the same enthusiasm and, over the next few years, must have given away a dozen copies to friends to spread the good news.

The following books were not only equally brilliant, but Davies seemed to get better and better till… show more.

Over the past couple of decades, I've read almost every one of Robertson Davies' (a fellow Canadian!) books, beginning with his Salterton Trilogy, which my editor at Dutton (who is not Canadian) gifted me, mainly because it revolved around an amateur theatre company's chaotic efforts to stage a production of Midsummer Night's Dream (the first novel I published with Dutton dealt with Shakespeare).Naturally I loved the books, especially Davies' droll but elegant, almost Dickensian style. This year I began to crave that sort of writing, so I revisited his novel Fifth Business (also theatre-related), the first book in the Deptford… show more.

Fifth Business is the first of the Deptford Trilogy as the very first line. Deptford is a small village in Canada, by the way. Canadian author, Robertson Davis, wrote this trilogy in the 1970s. It has several things that have influenced me, not least different narrative perspectives.

A young lad throws a snowball and by mistake hits a pregnant woman, who goes into early labour. That has consequences for various Deptford characters. They all have secrets that affect other and are revealed in increments via the different narratives.

Although there is a main narrator—Dunstan Ramsey, a schoolmaster—for Fifth Business and The… show more.