Leaven of Malice (1954)

This is excerpted from my review of the entire Salterton Trilogy.
In Leaven of Malice, someone has maliciously placed a fictitious engagement announcement in the local paper, the Evening Bellman, telling the world of Salterton that Solly Bridgewater and Pearl Vambrace are to be married. As the Bridgewaters and the Vambraces have nursed a grudge for decades, and as Solly is in love with someone else (who does not reciprocate his emotions) and Pearl is insecure and unhappy, this notice causes a mess of trouble for Bellman editor Gloster Ridley, who already has both problems of his own, with aging writer Swithin Shillito and publisher Mr. Warboys, and ambitions for an honorary degree as thanks for his role in establishing a journalism program at the university. Pearl's father Professor Vambrace, believing the ad is a plot to humiliate him, is determined to sue the paper for libel; Solly's mother is equally outraged. As the plot thickens, other people are drawn in, not just Solly and Pearl themselves, but also Ridley's housekeeper, who lives with her sister and brother-in-law and their lodger, the slimy voice instructor Bevill Higgin; elderly, meddling Puss Pottinger, who briefly appeared in the first novel; Dean Knapp of St. Nicholas's Cathedral; and, happily, the delightful Humphrey Cobbler. The story gives Davies the opportunity to depict the world of small-town journalism, and of small-town lawyers, as well as the interactions of various community "leaders" with each other.

Loved it. Richly drawn characters, good and bad. Reminds me of Trollope and Dickens: definitely in the same vein of writing. ( )

Typical Robertson Davies In other word a "gem" Well written with not a single superfluous line.
Once picked up, you will not want to put it down. ( )

Second in the Salterton trilogy.

Robertson Davies was one of Canada’s most distinguished writers; he is probably better known for his Deptford and Cornish trilogies than for the Salterton trilogy, but if so, that’s a shame, because he brings to the second book of the Salterton trilogy qualities that aren’t as immediately evident in the others.

Davies was at one time the publisher of a newspaper in a small Canadian university town, just like one of the protagonists in Leaven of Malice, Gloster Ridley. Through Ridley, we see the main characters as only an newspaperman with long experience in such a community can see them, with all their foibles. Davies throughout the book, either through Ridley’s eyes or those of other characters or through the narrative brings an absolutely impish sense of humor to bear on these people whom he knows well. However, it is also very clear that while the humor is devastating in depicting the characters, Davies had great affection for all except perhaps one of them. Yes, their behavior is hilarious, but they are human and all are Davies’ friends.

One of the great joys of reading Davies is his elegant prose. The man clearly loved the English language and used it brilliantly. I’m always tempted to describe his writing as “old-fashioned” but am afraid that somehow that would give the impression of out-dated or stiff. it is anything but. It’s formal, yes, but flows beautifully and wastes not a single word. He wrote in something more complex than the simple declarative sentence that is much the current style, and he was able to use multiple points of view--without having to resort to the first person, as so many authors do today. The result is refreshing, the English language at its best and most accessible.

It’s not necessary to read the first book to enjoy this, the second.

Highly recommended. ( )

This is my favourite Davies. Second book in Davies' Salterton trilogy, and a comic delight. The later Deptford trilogy outranks the Salterton trilogy artistically, but by the time he came to write Deptford he had already started down the road to assembling his own personal mythology out of bits and pieces of the Western tradition. It only got worse as time went on.