The Cunning Man
Toronto Trilogy • Book 2
by Robertson Davies
Why You'll Love This
A doctor who heals by intuition rather than prescription spends a novel asking one question — and the answer quietly dismantles everything he thought he knew about himself.
- Great if you want: ideas-rich fiction full of eccentric, brilliantly drawn characters
- The experience: leisurely and cerebral — a book that rewards patience and reflection
- The writing: Davies writes with wit, erudition, and a faintly theatrical formality that's entirely his own
- Skip if: you want plot momentum over philosophical digression
About This Book
Dr. Jonathan Hullah has spent a lifetime practicing medicine the unconventional way — treating the whole person, not just the ailment — which has earned him the folk-magic title of "Cunning Man." When a priest dies mysteriously at the altar on Good Friday, Hullah finds himself drawn into an investigation that is less about solving a death than about reckoning with an entire life. His inquiry pulls him back through decades of vivid memory: eccentric friendships, intellectual obsessions, spiritual questions, and the deep comedy of human ambition and folly. Davies is less interested in whodunit than in what it means to truly know another person — or yourself.
Davies writes with the confidence of a man who has read everything and forgiven most of it, and his prose rewards slow, attentive reading. The novel unfolds as a layered memoir within an investigation within a philosophical argument, and the structure itself becomes part of the pleasure — each digression feels deliberately placed, each seemingly minor character illuminated with unexpected depth. His wit is dry and precise, his erudition worn lightly, and his affection for human contradiction runs through every page. This is a book that gets richer the more you bring to it.