- Paperback: 272 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd (26 Sep 1991)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140167943
- ISBN-13: 978-0140167948
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 13 x 1.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,347,854 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Dunstan Ramsey and his "lifelong friend and enemy, Percy Boyd Staunton," are both aged 10. It is a winter evening in the small Canadian village of Deptford, and Ramsey and Boy have quarrelled. In a rage, Boy throws a snowball with a stone in it and hits the Baptist minister's pregnant wife by mistake. She becomes hysterical and later that night delivers, prematurely, a baby with birth defects. Even worse, she loses her mind. This secret guilt will bind Ramsey and Staunton together through their long lives. Boy, however, "would fight, lie, do anything rather than admit" he feels guilty, too, and so the subject remains unresolved between them right up until the night Boy's body is found in his car, in a lake, with a stone in his mouth.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Robertson Davies was born in Thamesville, Ontario in 1913. He was educated at Upper Canada College, Queen's University and Oxford. Robertson spent some time working in the theatre before embarking on a career as a journalist and literary editor. During this period, he began to write plays, and then novels. In 1961 Davies was appointed Master of Massey College at the University of Toronto, the post where he remained until his retirement. He died in 1995.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
My lifelong involvement with Mrs Dempster began at 5:58 o'clock p.m. on 27 December 1908, at which time I was ten years and seven months old. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
My lifelong involvement with Mrs Dempster began at 5:58 o'clock p.m. on 27 December 1908, at which time I was ten years and seven months old. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Simply one of the best-written and entertaining books that I've ever read. A feeling of loss overcame me when I had finished the book and realized that I'd never read it again for the first time. Thank goodness that it's the first in a trilogy!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I found it one of his best books and feel ever one should
read it
read it
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The only bad thing about Robertson Davies' Deptford Trilogy (FIFTH BUSINESS, THE MANTICORE, WORLD OF WONDERS) is that it had to end! Sparklingly clever, bawdy, poignant, erudite, and laugh-out-loud funny, Davies entertains in a wonderfully rich, old-world style.
A friend of mine (who recommended the books, and to whom I will be forever grateful) put it this way: "Reading Robertson Davies is like sitting in a plush, wood-paneled library--in a large leather chair with a glass of excellent brandy and a crackling fire--and being captivated with a fabulous tale spun by a wonderful raconteur."
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
oblique take on lives of drama; and on the mythological basis of...
Fifth business is a role which is neither hero nor villain, but which is a necessary feature of a dramatic or operatic plot - at least that's what the quotation at the front of the... Read more
Published 6 months ago by William Jordan
The tale of Dunstan
Robertson Davies' Deptford Trilogy is a strange, slightly magical trio of fictional biographies, all of which originate in the small Canadian town of Deptford. Read more
Published 13 months ago by E. A Solinas
Thought-provoking and beautifully-written
Dunstan Ramsey has spent 45 years as a school-master at a famous Canadian school and has taken umbrage at the flippant tone of the piece in the school magazine writing up his... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Nigel Seel
Sneaks up on you - a great book
Davies' great skill lies in his ability to write beautiful prose in an effortless way. He doesn't show off with flamboyant metaphors and flowery writing - his style is very... Read more
Published on 12 Feb 2009 by Sanderae
An inward-leading story appreciated only at the end.
It is at this point in time that I wish to revoke my former statement about this novel by Robertson Davies. Read more
Published on 21 July 1999
One of the first English-class books that I enjoyed.
...all right, it may have something to do with my fabulous teacher Ms. Biggs, but whatever. A fantastic example of literary theory, in the interweaving of themes and the complex... Read more
Published on 21 July 1999
WOW!!
This book is definitely one of the best I've ever read. The plot is stunning, mature, unique, and sophisticated. I couldn't put the book down!! Read more
Published on 25 Jun 1999
Thank saints there are 2 more in the series
In this mature and subtle book, Davies sets out to expore the crisis that takes grip when one must justify a life lived. Read more
Published on 23 Jun 1999
Damn good reading
I usually hate school books, but this one was worth the read. It is unlike anything I have ever read, in its content, theme, structure, and style; rarely do I read something this... Read more
Published on 3 April 1999
Fifth Business, while not literature's best, is a good book
The complaints do have some force - this book is slow in development, and the plot lacks excitement or even high suspense. Read more
Published on 25 Jan 1999
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