Numerologists might be intrigued to learn that this novel completes a trilogy, that this trilogy is the third that Canadian author Robertson Davies has written, and that a painted triptych figures prominently and mysteriously in the narrative. What this plethora of threes may signify is anyone's guess, but those more interested in words than in integers will face a calculated problem. Specifically, is it possible to understand and enjoy The Lyre of Orpheus without having read The Rebel Angels (1981) and What's Bred in the Bone (1985), the books that lead up to it?
Of course. Having completed the Salterton and...