Bred in the Bone

One of the distinguishing characteristics of What’s Bred in the Bone is the use of a double frame. The novel tells the story of Francis Cornish but opens with Arthur Cornish, Francis’s nephew, arguing with his own wife, Maria, and Francis’s erstwhile friend Simon Darcourt over whether Darcourt should complete the biography of Francis Cornish he has begun. Arthur has turned up evidence that Francis “faked” paintings, producing a masterpiece that has passed for a previously unknown Renaissance painting. The second, more playful framing device is an ongoing conversation between Francis Cornish’s guardian spirit (“daimon”) Maimas and the Angel of Biography, the Lesser Zadkiel.