What's Bred In The Bone (Cornish Trilogy, #2)

What's Bred In The Bone (The Cornish Trilogy #2)

4.22 of 5 stars 4.22  ·  rating details  ·  2,547 ratings  ·  111 reviews
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 o

...more
Paperback, 436 pages
Published 1987 by Penguin (first published January 1st 1985)
more details... edit details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy ChevalierThe Birth of Venus by Sarah DunantThe Da Vinci Code by Dan BrownThe Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar WildeThe Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier
Art & Artists in Fiction
32nd out of 305 books — 485 voters
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. MontgomeryThe Handmaid's Tale by Margaret AtwoodLife of Pi by Yann MartelWater for Elephants by Sara GruenA Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
Best Canadian Literature
60th out of 394 books — 295 voters


More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)
filter  |  sort: default (?)  |  rating details
laura
Had this one on my shelves for so long I thought I'd already read it. But, nope. It's the story of a half-provincial half-royal kid from Canada who is raised by a Catholic aunt and learns to draw in the local funeral home, then turns to Renaissance painting in the face of his family's craziness during WWII. Funny and intriguing all the way through. Must read more Robertson Davies.
Ted
What's Bred in the Bone by Robertson Davies is my favourite novel. It is the second in the otherwise unremarkable Cornish trilogy and details the life of the second Francis Cornish from birth to death, including a confusing religious upbringing by everyone but his parents in a rural Ontario town, his education from 'Spook' to Oxford, his apprenticeship in art fraud to cheat the Nazis and his secret life as a spy. Along the way, Cornish 'assassinates' an art faker as it takes one to know one, fal...more
Margaret
What's Bred in the Bone is the second of a trilogy of books which are bound together by the life of one Francis Cornish, Canadian artist, critic, and collector, and by a host of other characters who are tied to him in one way or another. This book tells Cornish's life story, starting from a conversation between his heirs and his biographer and featuring interjections from a pair of supernatural beings, the Lesser Zadkiel (the Angel of Biography) and Maimon, Francis's personal daimon. The daimons...more
Yuichiro
Bred in the Bone is the only book I have read by Robertson Davies, but it is not for the of lack of talent on the author's part. Davies has clear control of the plot, characters, and the English language and forms a story that is creative and believable, though not something we can relate to. (at least in this case) I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys books by John Irving. There are many similarities between the two authors, especially in the way the plot follows one character for much of...more
Sheryl Dunn
I avoided Robertson Davies for many years, and the only reason I read this one was that a friend asked me to read it aloud to him. I'm glad I did.

While the writing style felt old fashioned to me, Davies' wit and charm, especially when he's being satiric, is extremely engaging. Sometimes we laughed out loud; sometimes we discussed the issues raised in the novel. If the satire had continued at the same rate through the entire novel, I would have given this five stars instead of four, but the novel...more
Carol
This is the second book in Davies' Cornish trilogy, which began with The Rebel Angels. However, it's not a trilogy in the usual contiguous story divided into three books sense. What's Bred in the Bone backtracks from The Rebel Angels to tell the life story of Francis Cornish, whose death and estate was the catalyst for the main events of the first book. And it turns out to be a tale every bit as entertaining and rich as the academic hijinks of the first book.
Francis Cornish grows up in early 20t...more
Leslie
I fell in love with Robertson Davies while in high school. The vivid strangeness of the worlds he creates, clothed in a style so sedate that it can be difficult to notice, captivated me entirely, especially in The Deptford Trilogy. I returned to What's Bred In The Bone after stumbling upon a tattered copy in a used bookstore, and, while I was still transported, I got to look at it a little more clearly. He definitely tells instead of showing at times, and may lay things out a little too clearly...more
Radio2isstatic
This was the first Davies book I ever read, during the Canadian Studies student phase of my life when all books were acquired by picking at random from the CanLit shelf at the used bookstore. I've since gone back and read the whole Cornish trilogy, and much as I love the rest of it I really never felt it was necessary for my development as a person to have read more than this book. Possibly because it's so structurally different from the other two, Bred in the Bone sticks out. Its focus holds to...more
Rosanne Lortz
Francis Cornish, the wealthy Canadian art collector, is dead. But what kind of man was he? And what should his posthumous biography tell the waiting world? Neither his nephew Arthur nor the biographer Darcourt are entirely sure. Heaven only knows who Francis Cornish really was, and so it is heaven that provides the reader with a narrator for the tale. The recorder angel Zadkiel and the daimon Maimas (Francis’s indwelling inspiration) tell the story of a lonely boy, a loveless man, and an electri...more
Mag
A perfectly nice and entertaining literary work, but definitely not Canadian the way I understand it. If I didn’t know any better, I would think he is British, and very much imperial British. He represents everything one associates with colonial times in Canada: white, male, comfortably well-off, elitist, and monarchist. His writing is very accessible, definitely not post-modern, much more in the "by-gone" 19th century style. He draws exclusively on European tradition and good solid knowledge of...more
Wes Christensen
An artist friend gave this book to me, years ago when we were both in school. He didn't tell me anything about it, but since I liked him and his art work, I gave the book a try and went on to be a huge fan of the author, searching out everything I could find by him to read over the years. Being an artist myself, and painting in a rather traditional manner like the protagonist, it was bracing to read Davies' account of an artist who felt out of step in a Modern era -- much like I did, trying to m...more
Adam Dunn
This book was a struggle to read, and while at points I would give four or five stars, overall the end of the book really brought it down for me and I struggled to finish it.

The book excels in parts. When we see Francis as a little boy or later as an art apprentice trying to solve a painting’s origins the book shines. The more the novel goes into the art world however, it gets dragged down in a smileless, soulless vacuum that I had no interest in deciphering.

Told, with a hint of pretension, by t...more
Frank
Strangely disappointing after the genial and at times very comical first part of this trilogy.
Some very stagey, clumsily managed dialogue between the characters of that first part is used to introduce us to the subject of this second volume: the life of Francis Cornish (of whose estate the protagonists of the first and third volume were the executors).

It turns out to be a rather run of the mill Bildungsroman or Künstlerroman, whichever you prefer to call it. There's some hokum with a kind of g...more
Kate Z
Colleen gave me this book to try almost 2 years ago! I have wanted to read it but it's not the size I prefer and I'm always more tempted by the bigger hardbacks than this short, stubby little paperback. But 2012 is the year I clean up my "I Own This TBR" pile and clear books off of my (actual, not just virtual) bookshelves.

This book was fine but I just wasn't that into it. It took me 212 pages before I ever thought to myself, "Oh, this book might be okay after all." However, the writing is good...more
Mitch
I have to say, the thought of Canadian governmental machinations, British secret service, and Italian art restoration did not excite me at all. And, though a slow starting book, I found myself wanting to read more and more of this one...The story ended up being fascinating, character development was adequate to the point of care, and overall, a very enjoyable read.
Sheri-lee
There is a bit of a spoiler in here, so don't read the last paragraph, Stephen. :)

I think this is my favourite Robertson Davies book (so far). The New York Times is quoted as saying, "A deliciously readable story...an altogether remarkable creation, his most accomplished to date." and I would have to agree on all counts. (I've only read his Salterton Trilogy and Deptford Trilogy to date).

It's interesting to me how Francis Cornish is not portrayed as a very loveable or even likeable character in...more
Alisa

Extremely well-written, erudite, and entertaining. I've already read _The Fifth Business_ several times and that unfortunately takes the gloss off this one due to their overt similarities (Dunstan Ramsey is a crossover character besides, anyway.) Quiet Canadian boy of academic promise encounters numerous characters some of great eccentricity who dose him with wisdom. There's the free-spirited and saucy young woman with whom he explores sexuality... etc... this is probably all purposeful on Davi...more
Heather
One of my favorite books-- you must read the entire Cornish series. Hard to describe but the characters are like old friends that you can't get enough of and Davies' writing about art and religion are just enough to make you feel like you are learning more about the world.
Nina Menard
Apr 12, 2009 Nina Menard rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone
Recommended to Nina by: it was lying around my house!
My first impression of this book was, "Ugh"! ..."Another Fusty Book with Victorian Overtones"....then, as I pursued with reading I became engrossed in the tales surrounding the elite Francis Cornish...Who can resist reading the lessons given by Zaddok, on
"The Art of Funeral Work"???...as young Francis records in his sketch book, the embalmed and not-so embalmed figures ..."Most people don't see what's in front of their nose. They just see what they ought to see."...and...
"Cleanliness Is Essenti...more
Kate Millin
This is not the same copy as I am reading as I have a trilogy - and what to record reading them separately.
The second book in the trilogy goes back to tell the story of Francis Cornish was always good at keeping secrets and whose will was the link for the characters in the first novel. 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...more
Ruth
I only gave it as much as three stars because once the author got into the real purpose and point of the book it was moderately enjoyable. I like learning about the man behind the incredible collection described in the first book of the trilogy 'The Rebel Angels'. However the introduction to the second book in the series would have stopped me cold (and did for a few days); if I hadn't bought the trilogy as one book I would not have bothered to go beyond this line: "You two married about six mont...more
Héctor
Dec 09, 2007 Héctor rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone
voici mon livre favorite de Robertson Davies: un livre vraiment "devorable"! I read this book non-stop and have bought it to have it available to those who love historical fiction. Davies was a Canadian genius!
Murray
I saw this book reviewed in the year of its publication and asked the local library (what wonderful things those are/used to be in the UK) to get it. The librarian bought it within the week and I read it immediately.

It is simply a stunning book with the conceit that the hero's Daemon (who inspires but can remember nothing) and his Angel (who records everything but does not interfere in life) discuss between sections, why the hero did what he did. In between these entertaining interludes, we hav...more
Jesse
Very strange and wonderful. If you're interested at all in the world or art, hermeticism, history and philosophy, this is for you. One of my favorite writers :)
Gavin Stephenson-Jackman
What’s Bred in the Bone is the middle volume of the Cornish Trilogy by Robertson Davies. This is a extremely well written tale of the life of Francis Cornish from before his birth to his death, and the fears of his surviving family that some of the truths of his life could cause, embarrassment and financial difficulty for them. The story is narrated by the Daimon Maimas, and an angel, the Lesser Zadkiel. Of all parts of the novel I found the ongoing conversation between these two the most annoyi...more
Kathryn Anthony
For me this book is the epitome of the so-called "Southern Ontario Gothic" genre (though Alice Munro's _Lives of Girls and Women_, and of course Davies's _Fifth Business_ also fit the bill. But somehow, _What's Bred in the Bone_ really represents what I imagine of the sub- sub- sub-genre).

It's been a number of years since I read it, but it still evokes memories of some of the darker, but oddly fascinating moments in the narrative. I keep feeling like I should revisit these (not to mention the ot...more
Douglas Cosby
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Terry94705
I think I had picked this up before--and set it down after a few pages. The opening is not terribly inspiring, but once I realized there was an ART angle, I plugged on. I'm glad I did. Davies is quite a humorist and certainly manages to draw in enough interesting issues to keep the young Francis Cornish well occupied. He also write smartly about art.

I enjoyed watching young Francis develop as an artist, even if he was one of those never-need-to-sell, never-need-a-job types. (He does want the dig...more
Lou
After I read THE FORGERY OF VENUS I LOOKED FOR ANOTHER "ART FORGERY" novel and came up with Gruber's AIR AND SHADOWS and somewhere along the way WHAT'S BRED IN THE BONE. I am delighted to find this author who has not only provided a nice follow up to FORGERY for me but also has described the French/ English friction in Canada and GB that we in the lower 50 barely appreciate ( unless you watch Montreal Canadien hockey). I am enjoying learning some of the background behind this friction and look f...more
Oscar
La primera novela de la Trilogía de Cornish, 'Ángeles rebeldes', giraba en torno a la figura de Francis Cornish, millonario y benefactor de artistas, o más bien a su legado y todas las batallas por hacerse con él. 'Lo que arraiga en el hueso', segunda novela de dicha trilogía, trata justamente de la vida y milagros de tan enigmático personaje, desde su gestación hasta su muerte, pasando por su infancia, muy significativa para él y parte importante dentro del libro (de ahí el título, ya que "Lo q...more
« previous 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 99 100 next »
There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »
What's Bred in the Bone (Paperback)
What's Bred in the Bone (Cornish Trilogy)
What's Bred In The Bone
What's Bred in the Bone (Paperback)
What's Bred in the Bone (Hardcover)

23129
William Robertson Davies, CC, FRSC, FRSL (born August 28, 1913, at Thamesville, Ontario, and died December 2, 1995 at Orangeville, Ontario) was a Canadian novelist, playwright, critic, journalist, and professor. He was one of Canada's best-known and most popular authors, and one of its most distinguished "men of letters", a term Davies is sometimes said to have detested. Davies was the founding Ma...more
More about Robertson Davies...
Fifth Business The Deptford Trilogy: Fifth Business, The Manticore, and World of Wonders The Manticore The Rebel Angels (Cornish Trilogy, #1) World of Wonders

Share This Book

Your website
“The little boy nodded at the peony and the peony seemed to nod back. The little boy was neat, clean and pretty. The peony was unchaste, dishevelled as peonies must be, and at the height of its beauty.(...) Every hour is filled with such moments, big with significance for someone.” 2 people liked it
“The new priest in his whitish lab-coat gives you nothing at all except a constantly changing vocabulary which he -- because he usually doesn't know any Greek -- can't pronounce, and you are expected to trust him implicitly because he knows what you are too dumb to comprehend. It's the most overweening, pompous priesthood mankind has ever endured in all its recorded history, and its lack of symbol and metaphor and its zeal for abstraction drive mankind to a barren land of starved imagination.” 1 person liked it
More quotes…