Fifth Business

One snowball - three broken destinies.

It all started with a children's joke that turned into a tragedy and forever connected three boys. One became a magician, another - a businessman, the third - a soldier and a researcher of saints. But the real drama is experienced by only one of them - Dunstan Ramsay, the Fifth Figure, the one who is outside the center of events, but secretly from the others determines the course of everything.

In the exciting first novel of the "Deptford Trilogy", the classic of Canadian literature Robertson Davis leads the reader from the quiet streets of provincial Deptford and the trenches of death of the First World War to the brilliant world of magic and the gloomy halls of the business elite. Along the way, they meet saints, wizards, millionaires, students, soldiers - a multitude of figures, each of which makes you think about what role we really play in the stories of others.

"Fifth Business" is an undeniable masterpiece of world literature. Witty, wise, humane, and profound — as befits a classic of the genre.