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  • Fifth Business

  • The Deptford Trilogy, Book 1
  • Written by: Robertson Davies
  • Narrated by: Marc Vietor
  • Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (203 ratings)

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Fifth Business

Written by: Robertson Davies
Narrated by: Marc Vietor
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Publisher's Summary

Hailed by the Washington Post Book World as "a modern classic", Robertson Davies’ acclaimed Deptford Trilogy is a glittering, fantastical, cunningly contrived series of novels, around which a mysterious death is woven.

This first novel in the trilogy introduces Ramsay, a man who returns from World War I decorated with the Victoria Cross but who is destined to be caught in a no man's land where memory, history, and myth collide. As we hear Ramsey tell his story, we begin to realize that, from childhood, he has influenced those around him in a perhaps mystical, perhaps pernicious way. Even his seemingly innocent involvement in as innocuous an event as throwing a snowball proves to be neither innocent nor innocuous in the end.

©1970 Robertson Davies (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

What the critics say

"A marvelously enigmatic novel, elegantly written and driven by irresistible narrative forces." ( The New York Times)
"Robertson Davies is one of the great modern novelists." (Malcolm Bradbury, The Sunday Times, London)
"One of the splendid literary enterprises of this decade." ( Newsweek)

What listeners say about Fifth Business

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant!!!

Now I have 5 Canadian authors to hold dear ... so far. But this book cannot be compared to anything I have ever read and my preferences flow from economics, archaeology, genetics and the quantum world to fantasy and sci-fi to Coelho and David Mitchell. But this book was like no other and it is a wonder. I am very satisfied at having discovered it for my self and my self's enjoyment!!

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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An Intricate Masterpiece

It's been many years since I've spent time with Robertson Davies, my first exposure being the remarkable Cornish Trilogy which includes "What's Bred In The Bone". I'm old enough to have met him briefly during his time at the University of Toronto and to have heard him speak. I remember him as the sort of person I'd envision as a "man of letters": scholarly and erudite‚ and (I suspected) likely to have much more to him beneath that studied exterior.

The protagonist in this book, Dunstan Ramsay, is very close to Davies himself, both of whom grew up in small towns in Southwestern Ontario: an area I know very well. Both are scholars, both were "Masters" of a school/college and both are complex personalities. This particular book is written as a prolonged letter of confession by its protagonist Ramsay to the new headmaster of his school—although it's never completely clear why it's being written. The confession is a curious echo of Catholic practice from its Presbyterian-raised writer (Ramsay). Catholic magic is an important sub-text to this book in which a scholar with a stern Scots core is pulled by forces which are by turns exotic, tempting, repulsive, romantic, imposing or self-imposed.

I listened to this book on my evening walks and was deeply drawn into the story. It has a long narrative arc that runs over some 70 or so years and ends with a surprising event that I confess I didn't see coming. The book is Dickens-like in the remarkable characters who inhabit the story, and the well-formed minor players who come, and go—and re-emerge unexpectedly. Davies has a long fascination with the theatre and there's key elements of that here, at times didactically spelled-out like the Fifth Business nature of Ramsay In the story. The writing turns a shrewd eye to Canadian identity and history, to town and gown, and to hidden sides of the world (at least from a scholar's limited viewpoint) where Saints and Jesuits, magicians and freaks, priests and preachers, and sugar magnates are all players. It's a great ride in a world where a snowball can begin everything.

Marc Vietor does an excellent job of the narration and inhabits the core of Ramsay in convincing form. I could almost persuade myself that he was Canadian; however, a few minor mispronunciations gave it away. For instance the "Red Ensign" flag— it's "en'-sin", Marc, and the "Lieutenant Governor" is the "Leff"-tenant".

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Margaret Atwood & Stephan King both recommended this trilogy and so far they are spot on....

Awesome story with wonderful twists at the most opportune moments.....well read capturing the mood quite well!

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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Interesting narration of a timeless Canadian classic

The story speaks for itself and is as fascinating now as when it was first published . The performance , notably the narrators voice and accent, was jarring to me at first. I eventually accepted it, but it changed and diminished Dunstan Ramsay’s character . Never the less, a very enjoyable rendition.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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My favorite book ever!

everything about this is perfect. the story and the narrator is wonderful. I love this book!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Pretty Good!

I had to listen to it for a class. I was dreading the prospect of reading but this audio book made the process enjoyable!

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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A Gem!

I'll be honest. I had to read this for a literature class and I wasn't excited about it at all. However, when I started it, I found myself very entertained and by the end -I had chills.

Also, the performer who read the story did an amazing job in bringing it to life. I will be looking into other novels he has performed.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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excellent

such a great book! very well read. I will definitely listen to the whole series

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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A work of substantial importance

This novel covers so many important life lessons, oddities and experiences with such wit and wisdom, with such surprising astonishment of story one has to hear it again and again. I’ve read it before years ago and the many years since has given me a deeper appreciation. And yet it’s so rich that I could hear it 1000 times and still be amazed and grateful to discover something new. One of the best novels ever written. Surely a gem in Canadian literature. Characters and plot impeccable in believability and complexity. I listened to the 9.5 hours in mere days. Mesmerizing.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

It's Great

I was always weary of Canadian literature, thinking it would be boring and tedious. The first novel of the Depford Trilogy, Fifth Business by Roberston Davies presented to me the opposite of my assumptions. A look at the life of Dunstan Ramsey presents an intriguing, eventful and bordering on fantastic world in which karmatic outcomes are certain no matter how long the length of time. Marc Vietor was amazing as always, he presents Ramsay as a distinguished but never arrogant character, although he plays fifth business in the story he tells. The performance, story and production overall were very well done and I definitely will continue to listen to the rest of the trilogy.

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