Status
Available
Call number
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Collection
Publication
Penguin (Non-Classics) (1986), Paperback, 784 pages
Description
In the small university town of Salterton, Ontario, dreams are quietly taking shape, or falling apart. There's the Salterton Little Theatre Company, in which professional director Valentine Rich is tormented by the amateurish efforts of his actors. The families Vambrace and Bridgetower almost go to war over a fake notice of engagement in the local paper. And a family fortune is lavished on an aspiring singer because there is no male heir to claim it. Tracing the lives and incidents of a small community in the middle of the last century, The SaltertonTrilogypeels off the public veneer of geniality and respectability to reveal the private passions simmering beneath.
User reviews
LibraryThing member jtho
The Salterton Trilogy includes three novels: Tempest Tost, Leaven of Malice, A Mixture of Frailties. Tempest Tost is an amusing story of a small town Shakespeare production. Leaven of Malice is my favourite of the three: pure satire of small town social hierarchies and small town newspapers. Parts
Overall: 3.5 stars for Tempest Tost, 4.5 for Leaven of Malice, and 3 for Mixture of Frailties.
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of it are pure hilarity. A Mixture of Frailties was my least favourite of the three. When old Mrs. Bridgetower passes away, she leaves her fortune to an educational fund for a young woman interested in the Arts, rather then her son and the daughter-in-law she hates. The story follows Monica's life in Europe as she pursues her musical training. The magic of the caricatures is missing from the last novel, and the result is disappointing (especially when read right after Leaven of Malice). Overall: 3.5 stars for Tempest Tost, 4.5 for Leaven of Malice, and 3 for Mixture of Frailties.
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LibraryThing member isabelx
Tempest-Tost (read September 2007)
A tale of unrequited love among the members of an amateur theatre group, as they prepare to put on "The Tempest". It started off well but I could have done with more about Freddie and Tom, who almost disappeared from the story after the first few chapters.
I thought
Leaven of Malice (read September 2007)
When a notice announcing the engagement of Solly Bridgetower and Pearl Vambrace appears in the Evening Bellman, most of the newspaper's readers don’t realise that anything is amiss. But it says that the wedding will take place on November 31st, and in actual fact Solly and Pearl aren’t engaged, and haven’t had much to do with each other since acting in an amateur performance of the Tempest together four years ago. The fall-out from this practical joke affects many of Salterton's residents is immense, with the flames being stoked by Pearl's father Professor Vambrace, who it sure that that it was expressly aimed at humiliating him, and is determined to sue the newspaper since the editor is unable to tell who it was that paid for the engagement notice.
A very funny tale, with a host of wonderful characters ranging from the deranged Professor Vambrace, the scheming Mrs Bridgetower, both of whom are opposed to a potential marriage between their children, the harried editor of the Evening Bellman Gloster Ridley and the eccentric musician and cathedral organist Humphrey Cobbler, who is known to be fond of playing jokes.
A Mixture of Frailties (read October 2007)
This book begins with the death of Mrs Bridgetower, a year after the marriage of her son Solly to Veronica (formerly known as Pearl) Vambrace. Mrs Bridgetower's will reflects her devious and controlling nature, and Solly finds himself running one of the trustees of a fund to pay for a young woman with artistic talents to further her education in Europe. After the rejection of many unsuitable candidates, Humphrey Cobbler suggests that they should look at young singer named Monica Gall, who sang at Mrs Bridgetower's funeral. Monica's family belong to an evangelical sect known as the Thirteeners, and as well as working in a factory office she also sings with a church group on the radio. The trustees are finally able to agree on a candidate, and Monica sets off for England just before Christmas. Most of the rest of the story follows Monica on her journey to becoming a professional singer, as Solly and Veronica struggle to fulfill the conditions that will allow them to get their hands on some of old Mrs Bridgetower's money.
The year after her arrival in England, Monica goes to a Welsh country house for Christmas, and an American student who is also staying there keeps comparing the Christmassy atmosphere to Washington Irving. I assume he is referring to "The Keeping of Christmas at Bracebridge Hall" which happens to be on my TBR shelf - I'll have to make sure that I read it in this December.
Another very enjoyable book. I much preferred the The Salterton Trilogy to the Cornish Trilogy, but The Deptford Trilogy is still my favourite.
A tale of unrequited love among the members of an amateur theatre group, as they prepare to put on "The Tempest". It started off well but I could have done with more about Freddie and Tom, who almost disappeared from the story after the first few chapters.
I thought
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as I began reading that I had read it before, but later I decided that I had heard the first part of it dramatised on the radio instead.Leaven of Malice (read September 2007)
When a notice announcing the engagement of Solly Bridgetower and Pearl Vambrace appears in the Evening Bellman, most of the newspaper's readers don’t realise that anything is amiss. But it says that the wedding will take place on November 31st, and in actual fact Solly and Pearl aren’t engaged, and haven’t had much to do with each other since acting in an amateur performance of the Tempest together four years ago. The fall-out from this practical joke affects many of Salterton's residents is immense, with the flames being stoked by Pearl's father Professor Vambrace, who it sure that that it was expressly aimed at humiliating him, and is determined to sue the newspaper since the editor is unable to tell who it was that paid for the engagement notice.
A very funny tale, with a host of wonderful characters ranging from the deranged Professor Vambrace, the scheming Mrs Bridgetower, both of whom are opposed to a potential marriage between their children, the harried editor of the Evening Bellman Gloster Ridley and the eccentric musician and cathedral organist Humphrey Cobbler, who is known to be fond of playing jokes.
A Mixture of Frailties (read October 2007)
This book begins with the death of Mrs Bridgetower, a year after the marriage of her son Solly to Veronica (formerly known as Pearl) Vambrace. Mrs Bridgetower's will reflects her devious and controlling nature, and Solly finds himself running one of the trustees of a fund to pay for a young woman with artistic talents to further her education in Europe. After the rejection of many unsuitable candidates, Humphrey Cobbler suggests that they should look at young singer named Monica Gall, who sang at Mrs Bridgetower's funeral. Monica's family belong to an evangelical sect known as the Thirteeners, and as well as working in a factory office she also sings with a church group on the radio. The trustees are finally able to agree on a candidate, and Monica sets off for England just before Christmas. Most of the rest of the story follows Monica on her journey to becoming a professional singer, as Solly and Veronica struggle to fulfill the conditions that will allow them to get their hands on some of old Mrs Bridgetower's money.
The year after her arrival in England, Monica goes to a Welsh country house for Christmas, and an American student who is also staying there keeps comparing the Christmassy atmosphere to Washington Irving. I assume he is referring to "The Keeping of Christmas at Bracebridge Hall" which happens to be on my TBR shelf - I'll have to make sure that I read it in this December.
Another very enjoyable book. I much preferred the The Salterton Trilogy to the Cornish Trilogy, but The Deptford Trilogy is still my favourite.
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LibraryThing member tawdryjones
Robertson Davies is, to me, one of the premier writers and novelists. A coworker, who always said he was going to graduate school to be educated not to "get a better job," turned me onto Davies.
LibraryThing member ilovecookies
This is a trilogy of pleasant and amusing, sometimes interconnected stories of small-town Canada. The Salterton Trilogy does not seem to be as popular as the Deptford Trilogy, but the first book in the Salterton Trilogy - 'Temptest Tossed' is my favourite Robertson Davies novel. This trilogy is
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funny, witty and satirical - a really entertaining read! Show Less
LibraryThing member hugh_ashton
Re-reading for the fourth or fifth time. In some ways this is my favourite of the Davies trilogies (or what a reader at my sister's library used to call "triliologies". Davies was involved in both newspapers and academia, so the second in the series, Leaven of Malice, has some interesting points to
The story of the last book, Mixture of Frailties, is the best Robertson Davies story, I feel - as a plot - but the emotional realism of the heroine and the anti-hero leave something to be desired. But even so, I wouldn't be re-reading these books if I didn't feel that the author was a good story-teller, and one who knows a lot about a wide variety of subjects.
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make about both.The story of the last book, Mixture of Frailties, is the best Robertson Davies story, I feel - as a plot - but the emotional realism of the heroine and the anti-hero leave something to be desired. But even so, I wouldn't be re-reading these books if I didn't feel that the author was a good story-teller, and one who knows a lot about a wide variety of subjects.
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LibraryThing member otterley
One of my absolute favourites, and a brilliant re-read in times of stress. As with the best comfort reads, it offers challenges as well as comforts and pleasures.
LibraryThing member jwhenderson
Salterton is a small Canadian village that receives attention in this fine trilogy from Robertson Davies; at least some of the people in the village receive his attention and for readers that is a good thing. While I did not enjoy this quite as much as some of his later novels, there was sufficient
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humor and wit to keep me entertained. In the final novel of the trilogy, Leaven of Malice, the central character Monica Gall is also the most likable character and as such kept me interested in the book when I tired of some of the other characters for whom the titular "malice" was more their style. The plot borders on the melodramatic, but perhaps the thespian in Davies is to blame for that. The central role that music plays in this novel is another signature of the Robertson Davies' style (see The Lyre of Orpheus for another example). The combination of interesting, if not likable, characters and the wit of the master storyteller made this a good read. For greatness visit The Cornish Trilogy. Show Less
LibraryThing member Neil_Luvs_Books
I surprised myself guffawing while I read this. I did not expect Davies to be so incredibly funny.
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Physical description
784 p.; 7.6 inches
ISBN
0140084460 / 9780140084467