What's Bred in the Bone - Robertson Davies - A Short Summary and Review
What's Bred in the Bone - Robertson Davies - A Short Summary and Review
By: a.d. elliott | Take the Back Roads - Art and Other Odd Adventures
A Rite of Fancy Book Recommendation and Review
A short summary:
What’s Bred in the Bone chronicles the life of Francis Cornish, an art patron and connoisseur whose outward success masks a life shaped by secrets, inheritance, and quiet manipulation. Born into privilege yet emotionally constrained by a calculating mother and a rigid social framework, Francis grows into a man deeply invested in art, authenticity, and influence. The novel traces his development from childhood to adulthood, revealing the forces that shape both his tastes and his moral boundaries.
Though the second novel in The Cornish Trilogy, this installment stands confidently on its own. Davies blends satire, psychological study, and theological undertones to examine how identity is formed by family, culture, and personal ambition. Through Francis’s hidden hand in the art world, the novel asks whether talent, deception, and legacy are innate traits or carefully cultivated performances.
My favorite quote from the book:
Questions to ponder while reading:
My review:
Despite being the second volume in a trilogy, What’s Bred in the Bone reads as a fully realized and independent narrative. Robertson Davies constructs Francis Cornish’s life with careful precision, layering humor, irony, and philosophical reflection without ever losing narrative control. Readers unfamiliar with the surrounding trilogy will not feel lost; instead, they are invited into a richly self-contained character study.
What makes the novel particularly compelling is its unflinching view of human character. Davies does not idealize his protagonist. Francis is intelligent, perceptive, occasionally generous, but also secretive and subtly manipulative. His actions in the art world raise questions about authenticity, both artistic and personal. Is influence an act of guidance or interference? Is forgery merely deception, or is it a commentary on the nature of value itself?
The novel is saturated with familial wisdom, particularly regarding inheritance, not simply of money or property, but of temperament, habit, and worldview. Davies suggests that what is “bred in the bone” may not determine destiny entirely, but it exerts a powerful and often unavoidable influence.
In the end, the novel feels less like a dramatic revelation and more like a long, intelligent conversation about legacy, morality, and the subtle forces that shape a life.
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About the Author
a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller traveling through life
She shares her journeys at Take the Back Roads, explores new reads at Rite of Fancy, and highlights U.S. military biographies at Everyday Patriot.
You can also browse her online photography gallery at shop.takethebackroads.com.
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