Synopses & Reviews
The third installment in the Old Filth trilogy,
Last Friends will surprise and delight Gardam fans and appeal to new readers as it concludes a portrait of a marriage equal to any in the English language.
Of Edward Feathers, a.k.a. Old Filth, the New York Times wrote, "he belongs in the Dickensian pantheon of memorable characters." Filth, which stands for Failed in London Try Hong Kong, is a successful barrister who has spent most of his career practicing law in Southeast Asia. He met his wife, Betty, after she was released from an internment camp at the close of World War II. The first two books in this series — Old Filth and The Man in the Wooden Hat — told the story of their life together first from Edward's perspective, and then from Betty's. Last Friends is Edward's longtime nemesis and Betty' sometime lover, Terry Veneering's turn and with its telling magnificent and deeply moving story comes to its satisfying final pages.
As the Washington Post commented, these "absolutely wonderful" books give us "an astute, subtle depiction of marriage." With this third revealing view of Betty and Edward's life together the depiction is completed as readers renew their connection to this remarkable, unforgettable couple.
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"Gardam is the best British writer you've never heard of." Maureen Corrigan, NPR
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"Jane Gardam is a wonderful writer. Her understanding of character and use of language are both remarkable." The Times
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"[Gardam] is a brilliant writer. Her prose sparkles with wit, compassion and humor." The Washington Post
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"Old Filth belongs in the Dickensian pantheon of memorable characters." New York Times Sunday Book Review
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"A perfectly balanced ending to the trilogy that is Jane Gardam's masterpiece." Times Literary Supplement
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"[Gardam] is the best kind of literary escape: serious, mesmerizing, and deeply satisfying." Los Angeles Review of Books
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"Gardam proves that, even in its twilight, there is still life in the traditional English novel." Publishers Weekly
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"For all who loved Gardam's dear old eccentrics." Library Journal
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"Impeccably written." Kirkus Reviews
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"Vivid, spacious, superbly witty, and refreshingly brisk." The Boston Globe
Synopsis
Book Three in Jane Gardam's Old Filth trilogy.
Last Friends is the third and concluding novel in the highly praised trilogy that began with Old Filth and continued with The Man in the Wooden Hat.
The haunting first novel was the story of a decades-long marriage that stretched from the immediate post-World War II period into the opening of the twenty-first century. Sir Edward Feathers (Old Filth) was a captivating character: so clever, so triumphantly his own man, so wounded by his dreadful childhood.
The Man in the Wooden Hat was Betty's story. She and Sir Edward met and married in Hong Kong. She was surdy and dependable, the exemplary wife of an eminent lawyer. She owned two exceptional strands of pearls given to her by two men, who desired her and despised each other with equal authority. This second, equally witty, novel weighed the difference between marriage and romance with great subtlety and understanding.
Last Friends is Terence Veneering's turn. His beginnings were not those of the usual establishment grandee. Filth's hated rival in court and in love is the son of a Russian acrobat marooned in the English midlands and a local girl. He escapes the war and later emerges in the Far East as a man of panache and fame. The Bar treats his success with suspicion: where did this handsome, brilliant Slav come from? This exquisite story of Veneering, Filth, and their circle tells a bittersweet tale of friendship and grace and of the disappoinments and consolations of age. They are all, finally, each other's last friend as this magnificent series ends with the deep and abiding satisfaction that only great literature provides.
Synopsis
Third book in the Old Filth trilogy (Old Filth, The Man in the Wooden Hat, Last Friends). The marriage of Edward Feathers and Betty as seen through the eyes of Edward's friend and Betty's lover Terry Veneering.
About the Author
Jane Gardam is the only author to have twice been awarded Britain’s prestigious Costa (formerly Whitbread) Award for Best Novel. She was also a Booker prize finalist. Her novel The Man in the Wooden Hat was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times book prize and Old Filth was a finalist for the Orange Prize and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. She lives in the south of England near the sea.