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The Cunning Man
The Cunning Man
Apr 19, 2025 1:52 AM

Author:Robertson Davies

The Cunning Man

When Father Hobbes mysteriously dies at the high altar on Good Friday, Dr Jonathan Hullah - whose holistic ideas have earned him the soubriquet 'cunning man' - wants to know why. But it is only through looking back at his own long life that answers are forthcoming. He recalls the dazzling intellectual high jinks of his circle of friends, from the High Church homosexual Darcy Dwyer (an expert on the theory of sin) to the curious occurrence of the Coburg Social Parlour's Seventh Annual Bad Breath Contest. Compelling and hilarious, The Cunning Man is a profound exploration of what it means to be an actor in the divine comedy of life.

Reviews

Irresistible, unflaggingly vital. A wholehearted and sharp-minded celebration of the Great Theatre of Life

—— Sunday Times

A novel brimming with themes of music, poetry, beauty, philosophy, death and the deep recesses of the mind

—— Observer

An amazing coup. Davies has written a brilliant, never less than engaging work of fiction which is also a philosophical meditation on the business of living. I have not read anything so good in a very long time

—— Financial Times

A wise, humane and consistently entertaining novel

—— New York Times Book Review

'Amid the devilish plot twists Creer makes room to flesh out his principals most satisfyingly, and establish a page-blurring pace which he underpins with a unique and oddly lush economy of language'

—— Chris Power , The Times

'In spite of its savage background, Creer's novel is rumbustiously entertaining . . . partly because Jimmy is an engaging and strangely innocent hero, and partly because of Creer's heady, Burgess-meets-Berkoff prose'

—— Ross Gilfillan , Daily Mail

'Creer's sensitive and poised writing lifts the novel into a class of its own, closer to vintage Martin Amis than Rancid Aluminum . . . exquisitely raw in tone, with a sparse and timeless beauty'

—— Manchester Evening News

Intensely moving. Both entertaining and deeply serious

—— Evening Standard

An enjoyable, solid, gothic fantasy offering

—— fantasybookreviews.co.uk

Hugely enjoyable and highly recommended.

—— lovevampires.com

a literal fairytale romance which keeps you gripped until the very end.

—— xrebelangelx.blogspot.com

A lovely book, beautiful to look at and a captivating story. Goodman has a superb way of drawing you into her world, the magic within is subtle, enchanting enough to weave a spell over the reader without causing you to suspend belief.

—— wordandpiece.wordpress.com
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