Leaven of Malice

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Book cover

Leaven of Malice, published in 1954, is the second novel in The Salterton Trilogy by Canadian novelist Robertson Davies. The other two novels are Tempest-Tost (1951) and A Mixture of Frailties (1958). The series was also published in one volume as The Salterton Trilogy in 1986.

The trilogy revolves around the residents of the imaginary town of Salterton, Ontario.

Davies won the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour in 1955 for Leaven of Malice.

[edit] Plot summary

The book starts out with a false, anonymous, engagement notice in the local newspaper, the Bellman, between Pearl Vambrace and Solly Bridgetower. The wedding is to be held on November 31st, at the local cathedral. Professor Vambrace, the father of Pearl, is outraged by the notice, considering it to be an insult directed at himself and his family, due to his feud with the Bridgetower family. As such, he threatens the Bellman's editor, Gloster Ridley, to sue the Bellman for libel.

After Vambrace goes to his lawyer, who is a relative of his wife, it is suggested that he not go through with the case, and that the newspaper is as much a joke as he is. His partner, Snelgrove, however, says otherwise, and offers to take the case himself.

The case is looked into by both Vambrace's lawyer and Ridley's lawyer (Ridley being the editor of the Bellman). They are both in pursuit of the man responsible for entering the false wedding notice, who is dubbed 'X' by the characters in the play.

The wedding notice is the cause for many problems for the characters mentioned in the notice and their acquaintances.

The novel is essentially a parody/homage to Shakespeare's final play The Tempest. Prospero becomes Professor Vambrace to Solly Bridgetower's Ferdinand and Pearl is Miranda. Caliban is Cobbler. It's all part of that Jungian thing Davies loved in the end, an archetypal tale of transformation, magic and fogiveness.