A fake announcement in the local newspaper regarding an engagement between a young man and woman from Salterton’s high society revolutionizes life in the city. The alleged bride’s father, Professor Vambrace, is not willing to forgive an offense he considers insulting, and his planned lawsuit against the paper could have unpredictable consequences. Meanwhile, a storm is brewing in the editorial department at the Evening Bellman, in which its affable director, the owner’s intriguing daughter-in-law, and a veteran editor find themselves immersed. The rest of the city buzzes with rumors as the residents ponder what role the crazy organ player and the new choir teacher have in the scandal. This second installation in the Salterton Trilogy and the sequel to Tempest-Tost portrays peaceful provincial life in a Canadian city with masterful irony.

Un anuncio falso en un periódico local de un compromiso matrimonial entre dos jóvenes de la alta sociedad de Salterton revoluciona la vida en la ciudad. El padre de la supuesta novia, el profesor Vambrace, no está dispuesto a olvidar una ofensa que él considera injuriosa y su anunciada demanda podría tener consecuencias impredecibles. Mientras tanto, en la redacción del Evening Bellman se desata una tormenta en la que se ven inmersos su afable director, la intrigante nuera del dueño del periódico y uno de los redactores más veteranos. El resto de la ciudad se convierte en un hervidero de rumores mientras los residentes se preguntan qué tienen que ver en el escándalo el alocado organista de la catedral y un advenedizo profesor de canto. Esta segunda instalación en la Trilogía de Salterton y la continuación de la novela A merced de la tempestad retrata con magistral ironía la tranquila vida provinciana de una ciudad canadiense.

Robertson Davies, novelist, playwright, literary critic and essayist, was born in 1913 in Thamesville, Ontario. He was educated at Queen's University, Toronto, and Balliol College, Oxford. Whilst at Oxford he became interested in the theatre and from 1938 until 1940 he was a teacher and actor at the Old Vic in London. He subsequently wrote a number of plays. In 1940 he returned to Canada, where he was literary editor of Saturday Night, an arts, politics and current affairs journal, until 1942, when he became editor and later publisher of the Peterborough Examiner. Several of his books, including The Diary of Samuel Marchbanks and The Table Talk of Samuel Marchbanks, had their origins in an editorial column. In 1962 he was appointed Professor of English at the University of Toronto, and in 1963 was appointed the first Master of the University's Massey College. He retired in 1981, but remained Master Emeritus and Professor Emeritus. He held honorary doctorates from twenty-six universities in the UK, the USA and Canada, and he received numerous awards for his work, including the Governor-General's Award for The Manticore in 1973. It is as a writer of fiction that Robertson Davies achieved international recognition, with such books as The Salterton Trilogy (Tempest-Tost, Leaven Of Malice, winner of the Leacock Award for Humour, and A Mixture Of Frailties); The Deptford Trilogy (Fifth Business, The Manticore and World Of Wonders); The Cornish Trilogy (The Rebel Angels, What's Bred in the Bone, shortlisted for the 1986 Booker Prize, and The Lyre of Orpheus); Murther & Walking Spirits; and The Cunning Man. His other work includes One Half of Robertson Davies, The Enthusiasms of Robertson Davies, Robertson Davies: The Well-Tempered Critic, The Papers of Samuel Marchbanks, High Spirits, A Voice From The Attic and The Merry Heart, a posthumous collection of autobiography, lectures and essays. Many of his books are published by Penguin.

Robertson Davies died in December 1995. Malcolm Bradbury described him as 'one of the great modern novelists', and in its obituary The Times wrote: 'Davies encompassed all the great elements of life...His novels combined deep seriousness and psychological inquiry with fantasy and exuberant mirth.'

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"Davies is one of those narrators . . . who produce the sensation of standing right next to us, reading a few sentences ahead, giggling in anticipation of what awaits us."  —Rodrigo Fresán, author, Kensington Gardens

"Robertson Davies is the sort of novelist readers can hardly wait to tell their friends about."  —Washington Post

"Robertson Davies is one of the great modern novelists."  —Sunday Times

"[Davies] is one of the most learned, amusing and otherwise accomplished novelists of our time. His novels will be recognized with the very best work of this century."  —John Kenneth Galbraith, author, The Affluent Society