A Mixture of Frailties

The protagonist in Frailties, Monica Gall, is a working-class girl with a beautiful but immature singing voice. But the novel begins before she is introduced, somewhat after Leaven of Malice ends, with two of its protagonists, Pearl Vambrace and Solly Bridgetower now married but stuck in a difficult situation. When Solly's demanding mother Louisa Bridgetower dies, possessed of a much greater fortune than anyone except her lawyer knew about -- over $1 million, more than $9 million today -- she leaves instructions in her will to start a trust for the education in the arts of a young woman, in Europe, until such time as her son has a male child. The income from the rest all goes to the student. Until and unless the boy is born, Solly can't touch the money; his only unencumbered inheritance is a measly $100 (and he and Veronica must live in and keep up his late mother's house). This is Solly's mother's revenge on him and his wife for marrying against her wishes, an event that arises directly out of Leaven of Malice.

Monica becomes the beneficiary of the Bridgetower Trust, and goes to England to study with several teachers chosen for her by Sir Benedict Domdaniel, a theatrical knight who works as a conductor. Her experiences form the bulk of the novel. Meanwhile, back in Salterton, Solly deals with maintaining the Bridgetower estate on limited funds, and attempts more and more desperately to have a child with Veronica, so he will come into his conditional inheritance.

Monica is the daughter of a difficult mother also. Her family are religious fundamentalists who exploit her talent by proselytizing on a local radio music show for which she is the best singer, but deprecate Monica's talent. In the several years of the novel's time frame, she undergoes artistic and personal experiences overseas that change her irrevocably, but finds she can't quite escape her upbringing, especially the influence of her mother. She learns she has to find her voice as a woman and an artist while remaining true to herself, although she also has to learn what that means.

The book explores a broad range of life, melding the low and the high: dirty floors and unwashed feet in unheated flats, alongside the sublimity of soaring music and beautiful poetry. The omnipotent narrator's frequent asides are not digressions; they serve the novel's themes.

The book was released to positive reviews, with Edmund Fuller, reviewing for The New York Times, saying "(Davies) is lavish with character and laughter, wise and perceptive about life and art, capable of touching the sorrowful as well. In short, from Canada, a thoroughly rewarding writer with a fine new book."[1] Each character is strikingly drawn, and, true to life, exhibit frailties, for which Davies shows considerable understanding, although he scorns the pompous and self-important. It's a comic novel with its share of cruelty, cupidity and even tragedy, leavened with wisdom and triumph.

• A Mixture of Frailties at the Internet Book List