Why a Booktrail?
Destination: Toronto Departure Time: 1900s
Come to “Spook” in Toronto for a lesson in academia you will never forget
The Rebel Angels
What you need to know before your trail
The Rebel Angels follows several faculty and staff of the fictional College of St. John and Holy Ghost in Toronto.
Two people narrate the goings on at this college – there’s Theotok, a graduate student researching Rabelais and Darcourt who is in the process of writing a history of the university. Hollier is another strong character who is a professor at the university.
The eccentric art patron and collector Francis Cornish has just died and. Hollier, Darcourt are amongst Cornish’s executors for the very complicated will. The will includes material that Hollier wants for his studies. But there are others with strong interests in what has been left behind.
Travel Guide
Toronto’s Trinity college
The college of St John and Holy Ghost in Toronto is based on Toronto’s Trinity college and many of the characters are said to be based on the author’s college friends and acquaintances.
The author was a professor at the university so where better to get inspiration and a unique insight of academia in all its forms? He also lived just opposite the college whilst he was master of Massey college and it’s thought that this was the inspiration for Ploughwright college.
With thanks to Tourism Toronto for the pointers!
Streetview Maps
A) Toronto - Trinity College
B) Toronto - Massey College
Where Next?
