Old Filth
and The Man in the Wooden Hat
by Jane Gardam. These were on last year’s list but still get mentions. “Don't be put off by the drab covers and unappealing titles. These two books are my favorites of the year. Traveling back and forth in time, they are the story of Edward Feathers ( Filth), his wife Betty and Filth's rival Terry Veneering. Lovely passages from the vague point of view of the aging but still feisty British. Filth is a ‘raj orphan’, one of the children sent home to English foster care to avoid the tropical diseases in colonial outposts in the Far East. Love story, adventure story , moves from Hong Kong to the British countryside . Funny, sad, and very British.” Old Filth: “This novel tells the story of Sir Edward Feathers, a barrister known as Old Filth ("Failed in London Try Hong Kong"), who becomes a renowned lawyer in the Far East. Told from the perspective of Filth, who was a raj orphan, shipped to Wales and raised by foster families and in boarding schools. He’s now an octogenarian, living in Dorset with his wife of many years, Betty.”
