Book 1

The Rebel Angels

by Robertson Davies

Published 31 December 1981
Now part of the beautiful new Modern Classics series, The Rebel Angels is the first book in the celebrated Cornish Trilogy by one of Canada's most beloved literary icons.

     Gypsies, defrocked monks, mad professors, and wealthy eccentrics--a remarkable cast peoples Robertson Davies's brilliant spectacle of theft, perjury, murder, scholarship, and love at a modern university. Only Davies, author of Fifth Business, could have woven together their destinies with such wit, humour, and wisdom.
     The Rebel Angels is the first book in the Cornish Trilogy and also stands by itself as an extraordinary novel.

Book 2

What's Bred in the Bone

by Robertson Davies

Published 27 February 1986
Francis Cornish was always good at keeping secrets. From the well-hidden family secret of his childhood to his mysterious encounters with a small-town embalmer, an expert art restorer, a Bavarian countess, and various masters of espionage, the events in Francis's life were not always what they seemed.

In this wonderfully ingenious portrait of an art expert and collector of international renown, Robertson Davies has created a spellbinding tale of artistic triumph and heroic deceit. In this second book of the Cornish Trilogy, Davies spins a tale told in stylish, elegant prose, endowed with lavish portions of his wit and wisdom.

"A deliciously readable story...An altogether remarkable creation, his most accomplished novel to date." -- The New York Times


Book 3

Lyre of Orpheus

by Robertson Davies

Published 31 December 1990
Hailed as a literary masterpiece, Robertson Davies's Cornish Trilogy comes to a brilliant conclusion in The Lyre of Orpheus, now part of the new Modern Classics series.

     There is an important decision to be made. The Cornish Foundation, set up with money left by the late Francis Cornish, connoisseur, collector, and notable eccentric, must decide which undertaking will receive a portion of its considerable funds.
     The Foundation decides to support the doctoral work of Hulda Schnakenbury, a thoroughly unpleasant young genius of a music student. Her task is to complete the score of an unfinished opera by E.T.A. Hoffmann, and as plans take shape, Hoffmann's dictum, "The lyre of Orpheus opens the door of the underworld," proves prophetic for many a participant.     

     Baroque and deliciously funny, this third book in the Cornish Trilogy shows Robertson Davies at his very considerable best.