Leaven of Malice, by Robertson Davies. Pub 1954.I bought the Salterton Trilogy as a set on my Kindle, so it was a natural flow in to book two once Tempest-Tost was done. I (again) confess that I might not have read this one either in school, as the story was completely new to me. I was surprised that a story with fairly adult themes (suggestions of incest and adultery, alongside the quaint notions of engagement announcements) was part of our school curriculum; I know we read the “fallen women” trilogy in Grade 12, but this story seemed quite advanced for our parochial Grade 11 minds. In any event, I enjoyed again being immersed in the wry humour, familiar characters, and quaint Canadian-isms that are Davies‘ specialty, although some characters seemed a bit too large (ex. Professor Vambrance) and the situations a bit far-fetched to be as believable as they were in Tempest-Tost. Still, an enjoyable classic.
1. A book you read in school (high school or university)
7. A book written by a male author
24. A book written by someone younger than you (Davies was 41 when he wrote this)
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