Own Your Own: The No-Cash Down Business Guide Book

A wonderful trilogy, by an incredible writer. Each of the three novels looks back on a man’s life. The first, Fifth Business, is a letter from a school teacher to his old headmaster, attempting to show that his life was much more than anyone ever saw at school, and it touches on saints, war, madness and artificial legs.
The second book, The Manticore, is notes from the Jungian analysis of a wealthy Canadian lawyer, touching on archetypes, alcoholism, first love and death-masks.
The third, World of Wonders, is the life story of a performer, told to a film crew as they search for a subtext to their film, touching on circuses, kidnapping, clockwork, and a very British theatrical tour.
All three books are linked by Deptford, the home village of two of the men, and also the home village of Boy Staunton, the lawyer’s father, and linked by the death of Boy Staunton under odd circumstances. And each book contains unhappy men powerful in their own ways, and women who are influential but rarely comforting.
However, you don’t have to be interested in saints or Jung or British theatre to love these books. The most notable thing about any Robertson Davies novel is the generous and intelligent spirit which gleams out of them.
Some books make you feel the author’s intellect and learning but also make you very aware of your own lack of learning; these humane erudite books make the reader feel clever too. I didn’t feel patronised as a teenager when I read these, though I am now aware that I must have missed at least 90% of the references! As I reread them every new decade of my life, I get new mythical, religious, literary and historical references every time! I wonder if I will ever live long enough to get every single one of them?
These are fabulous books, by an amazing writer. Please discover him for yourself!