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Content snapshot
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Violence
Some
WWI violence depicted; some violent incidents across the narrative
Language
Barely any
Mild language throughout
Sexual Content
Some
Some sexual content in the literary fiction register; a key relationship involves significant age difference
Substance Use
Barely any
Social drinking in the literary register
Emotional Intensity
A lot
Strong psychological content: Jungian analysis, questions of myth and personal psychology, and the complex figure of a saint are the novel's intellectual and emotional core
What this book is about
Dunstan Ramsay, a retired schoolmaster, writes his memoir beginning with the winter evening a boy (who grew up to be a famous industrialist) threw a snowball at him, missed, and struck a pregnant woman — setting off a chain of consequences neither could have predicted. Robertson Davies' psychologically dense first Deptford novel is rich with mythology, hagiography, and Jungian psychology, examining the role of the person who is neither hero nor villain but makes both possible.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
WWI violence depicted with some impact
Age difference in a sexual relationship
Dense psychological and mythological content — demanding for some readers
Reader Verification
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