Modern Classics: Tempest-Tost

Tempest-Tost (1951) was the first novel by Robertson Davies. It eventually also became the first in his Salterton Trilogy together with Leaven of Malice and A Mixture of Frailties. They are all set in the fictional town of Salterton in Ontario, Canada.

This novel is about an amateur theatre group which is trying to put together a summer production of Shakespeare's play The Tempest. Maths teacher Hector Mackilwraith falls in love with the young and beautiful Griselda Webster. When Hector is absent half way through the play and passes out backstage, everyone thinks he has tried to commit suicide.

This novel attempts to be comical without quite managing to do so successfully. However, I do look forward to reading later works by Davies, particularly The Dertford Trilogy written two decades later.