Robertson Davies engages us in the fascinating history of Francis Cornish, a wealthy and mysterious Canadian collector and patron of the arts who has just died. Beginning with the chance circumstances that lead to his parents’ marriage, and including his unorthodox artistic formation and his sexual initiation, the novel narrates the various stages of his life and recounts the development of his character. This is how we discover the source of his fortune as well as his past as a painting restorer and falsifier, talents which led him to become a part of British espionage during World War II and to participate in a plot to sell falsified artwork to Nazis. With this novel, Davies weaves an ingenious tale about the reasons, passions, and intrigue that drive the art world. Although it can be read independently, this novel is the second installment of The Cornish Trilogy.

Robertson Davies nos sumerge en la fascinante historia de Francis Cornish, un acaudalado y misterioso mecenas y coleccionista de arte canadiense que acaba de morir. Comenzando con las azarosas circunstancias que propician el matrimonio de sus padres, y pasando por su heterodoxa formación artística y su iniciación amorosa, la novela va recorriendo las distintas etapas de su vida y dando cuenta del desarrollo de su carácter. Es así como se descubre el origen de su fabulosa fortuna y se desvela su pasado como restaurador de pintura y falsificador, habilidades que durante la segunda guerra mundial le llevarían a formar parte del espionaje británico y a participar en una trama de venta de obras de arte falsas a los nazis. Davies crea en esta novela un ingenioso relato sobre las razones, pasiones e intrigas que mueven el mundo del arte. Aunque puede ser leída independientemente, esta novela es el segundo libro de la Trilogía de Cornish.

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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"Canadian author Davies has written another irresistible novel. . . . The book is seamlessly constructed, interpolating some marvelous set pieces of comic intensity, and the reader hurtles through the taut, compelling narrative wishing it would never end."  “Publishers Weekly, on the English-Language edition

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

"[T]he greatest comic writer since Dickens."  “John Irving, author, The Cider House Rules

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

"Author Davies has produced a gripping story of artistic triumph and heroic deceit, told with deep insight into the worlds of art and international espionage."  “Library Journal, on the English-Language edition

"He 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

"Lo que arraiga en el hueso has everything that made Fifth Business such a success: a story impossible to summarize, . . . an overdose of all sorts of information, . . . and the creation of a seducing and voluptuous character, who complements his venturesome life with all those he encounters along the way, piecing together a cubist picture that, of course, has been created to entertain all those who love the written word."  “El Periódico

"The pleasure elicited by its reading is one of the many wonders of literature."  ?El País