Old Filth

By Jane Gardam

Book One in Jane Gardam's Old Filth Trilogy

Sir Edward Feathers has had a brilliant career, from his early days as a lawyer in Southeast Asia, where he earned the nickname Old Filth (FILTH being an acronym for Failed In London Try Hong Kong) to his final working days as a respected judge at the English bar. Yet through it all he has carried with him the wounds of a difficult and emotionally hollow childhood. Now an eighty-year-old widower living in comfortable seclusion in Dorset, Feathers is finally free from the regimen of work and the sentimental scaffolding that has sustained him throughout his life. He slips back into the past with ever mounting frequency and intensity, and on the tide of these vivid, lyrical musings, Feathers approaches a reckoning with his own history. Not all the old filth, it seems, can be cleaned away.

Borrowing from biography and history, Jane Gardam has written a literary masterpiece reminiscent of Rudyard Kipling's Baa Baa, Black Sheep that retraces much of the twentieth century's torrid and momentous history. Feathers' childhood in Malaya during the British Empire's heyday, his schooling in pre-war England, his professional success in Southeast Asia and his return to England toward the end of the millennium, are vantage points from which the reader can observe the march forward of an eventful era and the steady progress of that man, Sir Edward Feathers, Old Filth himself, who embodies the century's fate.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Release date: Jun 1, 2006
• ISBN: 9781609450175

Reviews for Old Filth

[vivl_6 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved it, bought the sequels and am rereading -- will review more thoroughly post reread.

[gayla.bassham · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book -- beautifully written, with well-realized characters. Very, very British.

[ameise1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I am fascinated by Gardams writing style. She contrives to portray the life of Edward Feathers concise. It is exciting to read from the first page to last. Even if it is a fiction, it shows the sad fate of English children who were taken from their parents abroad and were taken to foster families in England. Their fate during their childhood impressed and they fought partly the rest of their life with this trauma. Edward was a Solicitor General and has received his facade of his life upright. This earned him not only friends but he remained despite marriage a loner who has difficulties in dealing with others. Only in old age, after the death of his wife, he faced up to its past and open towards others.

[cbl_tn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

His colleagues at the Bar called him Filth, but not out of irony. It was because he was considered to be the source of the old joke, Failed In London Try Hong Kong. It was said that he had fled the London Bar, very young, very poor, on a sudden whim just after the War, and had done magnificently well in Hong Kong from the start. Being a modest man, they said, he had called himself a parvenu, a fraud, a carefree spirit.Filth in fact was no great maker of jokes, was not at all modest about his work and seldom, except in great extremity, went in for whims. He was loved, however, admired, laughed at kindly and still much discussed many years after retirement.In a sense, this book is like an extended obituary of Sir Edward Feathers, aka Old Filth. Readers learn at the beginning that he was a legend in his own time. The rest of the book tells how the legend was made. Filth's story is told in layers that alternate between past and present. By the end of the book, readers will understand Filth better than he understood himself, and may count themselves among his admirers.Filth was what is referred to as a “Raj orphan” - British children whose parents lived and worked in one of Britain's colonies. When the children reached school age, they were sent back to Great Britain to be raised by family members or even strangers. This theme may have special appeal to readers who were third culture kids, like children of missionaries.Filth's wife, Betty, is still somewhat of a mystery to me. Apparently her story is told in a companion novel, which I will be compelled to read at some point in the future.

[bell7_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Edward Feathers, often called Filth ("failed in London, try Hong Kong), has returned to England after a prestigious career as a lawyer and judge. Now retired and a widower, he reflects back on his life and as the story unfolds you realize that no one can truly know a person from the outside looking in.Old Filth is the story, told non-chronologically, of a boy who was born in Malaya and sent to England for schooling, much like other so-called Raj orphans. Old Filth himself is a bit of a curmudgeon and loner, his story sometimes terribly sad even though he's deemed "successful" by his peers. A thoughtful and understated character study.

[thebookjunky · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Old Filth. "Failed in London, tried Hong Kong". He is an old man now, a former lawyer and then judge who personified England's colonialist outposts. His memories of his years as a 'Raj orphan', of his education and early career in England, and of those other lives that became intertwined with his, all become admixed and blend together with his present day falling into frailty. His life was bound up into the highlights of the history of Britain in the twentieth century. It is a description of a time that was, and exists no longer.

[fhudnell-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Old Filth is a former judge from Hong Kong who has retired to England with his wife. Nearing the end of his life, memories of his childhood, education, friends and career are crowding his mind. The book skips back and forth in time so it takes a while to get a complete picture of his experiences. Most compelling for me was the story of his childhood, when he was callously sent away to Wales to live with a foster family. I initially had a problem with the structure of this book, perhaps because I was listening to it rather than reading it, but by the end I was used to the shifting time line and I was very moved by this story.

[bookconcierge · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Eddie Feathers is a Raj Orphan, nicknamed Old Filth for an acronym he, himself, is said to have invented - Failed in London, Try HongKong. The book is told in a series of flashbacks, beginning as Filth is newly widowed. Definitely focuses on his youth and how he came to be the proper Englishman he is. Great companion to The Man in the Wooden Hat] - but read this one first.

[ma_washigeri · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have a children's book on my shelves by Jane Gardam of short stories called The Hollow Land which will be a good re-read after finishing Rob McFarlane's Underland. I was expecting something like a thriller or detection genre - but what I got was a glorious patchwork of someone's life, detailed in places, sketchy in others. I worked out he must have been born about 1923. Although the chapters do not follow chronological order I was never in doubt about where in his life each chapter is, but the other characters can pop up unexpectedly and I was glad I started a crib sheet so that encountering them again they were easy to place. Mostly it was set in England although Edward Feathers spent much of his life in Hong Kong and that balance is one of the subtle things that illuminate the empire theme of having your cake and eating it too, and the terrible price paid (to mix a few metaphors).

[oldblack-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Why am I so out of line with everyone else? Almost everyone gives this 3 or more stars, but I was rather unimpressed. I really didn't like the style, in parts. I suppose kinder people would call it creative, but I found these varieties of style (e.g. describing a scene as in a play) just distracting. I didn't find a lot of depth of characters, either. I didn't find any of the 'humour' that some reviewers found, nor did I find it particularly 'moving'.In fact I only picked this author because of a follow-up of observing someone reading one of her books on the train! I might try one more of Gardam's books . . or maybe not.

[randymetcalfe · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sir Edward Feathers is retired, renowned (in legal circles), redoubtable, and almost entirely alone. Even his companion in life, his wife Betty, doesn’t know everything about him. And yet, it is said even of lawyers, that they once were children. Sir Edward’s childhood was both singular and sadly typical. A Raj orphan, he is spirited away from his Malaysia village as a small child to be taken Home for safe keeping, or in this case to Wales, where he suffers unspecified horrors that scar him for life. Of course in a life like his, what is one scar more or less? For shocks and betrayals and tragedy abound in his life. As do moments of wonder and light. And when all is said and done, it only remains to note how little has been said of what has been done.Jane Gardam brings Sir Edward to life. Known as ‘Old Filth’ (Failed In London Try Hong Kong), he is a delightfully complex and almost inscrutable character. His life is so rich in event and masque that Gardam seems barely able to keep a grip on the reins of his story as it races round its curves. But that too is an effect that only a novelist like Gardam could achieve. And this is surely an achievement. With gentle touches and fitful forays into the past, Gardam humanizes Sir Edward. And while some of what happened to the young Eddie might come across as melodrama, the fact that Sir Edward contains and suppresses it all, doesn’t speak of it even to Betty, makes it seem merely the normThe writing is fresh and rich with detail and even emotion, for such an apparently emotionless man. The other characters are suitably enigmatic, at least to Sir Edward who little understands himself. Indeed most of the people we encounter here are damaged in one way or another, and most often by events in their childhood. And yet it all adds up to something satisfying, and terribly British.A most fascinating and surprising read. Recommended.

[vivienner_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Eddie Feathers, known by his nickname Filth, a term he coined for Failed In London Try Hong Kong, looks back on his life. A life that began tragically in Malaya where his mother died soon after his birth. At age 4, he was torn from his devoted nurse and sent to foster-parents in Wales (they were the cheapest) as a "Raj orphan". The story jumps about in time as memory usually does, however, each section fits together like a perfectly designed puzzle. We gradually get to know Filth as the story progresses. This is not a long book and yet the author travels a long way through the changing conditions of the 20th century and Sir Edward's long interesting life. I loved this book and will be reading the others in the series as soon as possible. Highly recommended.

[bobbieharv · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Never thought I would have liked a book with such an awful title about an old English stuffed shirt but I actually loved it. Wonderful writing, wonderful insight into a difficult character.

[laura1124-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was everything I hoped it would be. I will read the rest of the trilogy - and likely everything else Jane Gardam has written.

[k6gst · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When you search for Jane Gardam on the Literature Map you find her among other names of interest to this newsletter: Penelope Fitzgerald, Barbara Pym, Edna O’Brien, Elizabeth Taylor, Anita Brookner, Jean Rhys, and others. So I don’t know how I missed her before this. I’ll start apologizing for reading so many British Old Lady Authors the moment they stop kicking so much ass.Teddy “Filth” Feathers is a retired colonial judge living in England. The nickname is from an acronym he applied to lawyers like himself trying their professional luck in the colonies: “Failed in London, try Hong Kong.”He was a “Raj orphan,” that is, an Englishman born to imperial civil servants abroad who is dumped by his parents on aunts and boarding schools back in England when he turns five years old. That’s not something that doesn’t leave a lasting mark, and it can tend to produce not-totally-stable types, like, for instance, say, Kim Philby. Things that happen to you when you are five can still be messing with you badly when you are eighty, apparently.His eventful life is told in flashback. It’s funny, wise, and moving. Emotionally compelling without the least bit of sentimentality. There are two follow-on novels about Filth and I’m committed.

[y2ash · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It's difficult to me to say if I really enjoyed "Old Filth" or not. I am not sure yet if it was/is worth the hype. Old Filth is about an aging average British/Malayan judge who goes on a impromptu and highly erratic road trip, when his wife dies, to visit his two "cousins" Barbara aka Babs and Claire. The three share a murderous secret in their past regarding their foster mother Ma Dibbs.

Superficially, Old Filth has very little payoff as it is a very simple story. Towards the end, it looks like Old Filth wants to be absolved for his sins and repent. He even calls for a vicar he cannot stand so he can confess and then he doesn't and then goes to the only truly place he ever felt at Home.

However, when I analyzed the complexities, it moves beyond a simple story and that I can commend for it. I loved that, because of his wife Betty's death, it sort of unlocked all of these repressed memories in Old Filth's mind. That significant event just unlocked the floodgates for him and you find out that before he was this highly respected judge, he was this youth who seemed to be getting abandoned by everyone he loved.

In a sense, Betty abandoned him for death.

This novel felt to me like watching an old black and white movie TCM. Gardam did a wonderful job with that imagery. It felt like a weird reading experience. It also reminded me of a Dickins or Christie novel. I would say that Old Filth isn't for everyone. I'm still not sure about me.

[quondame · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What is left to say. Beautifully written. It is about 20th century a British Raj-orphan who from birth to death in this book does little but let things happen to him and recovers from them. There are glimmers of interesting things lurking in the background, but on the surface this is another by&for Brits story of dull Brits, the which I gave up after Atonement, to the extent of not being able to watch Downton Abbey, no, not even for the costumes.

[thorold_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It took me a little while to get properly involved with this novel, in which an elderly, retired colonial judge looks back on a life that is quite different from the smooth ride everyone else assumes he must have had. Gardam is not an aggressively witty or sophisticated writer, and she doesn't do much to haul the reader in at the outset. Her favoured technique seems to be to sneak in towards something that will give us a deeper insight into her characters, but then turn back just before she gets there, leaving us dangling until the next opportunity. An approach that can be very effective, but makes this read almost more like a novel of the 1950s than one written just over a decade ago. This slightly archaic feeling is reinforced by the subject-matter, of course: there are strong echoes of Elizabeth Taylor's Mrs Palfrey in Gardam's tough-but-emotionally-scarred survivors of upper-class colonial childhoods, and of course (as she acknowledges) the voice of the most famously damaged Raj child, Kipling, is never far away. But Gardam brings in plenty of material that goes beyond the obvious - having been married to a QC for many years she is able to write about ageing barristers without making it sound like a pastiche of Rumpole (not that John Mortimer would ever take on a judge as a sympathetic main character!), and the cameo appearance of Queen Mary is a rather splendid touch. I wouldn't quite put in on my list of 100 greatest books, but it does go a step or two beyond being merely entertaining and well-researched.

[cariola_6 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Edward Feathers's story is full of insights into a familiar character type: the high acheiving, emotionally repressed, stiff upper-lipped, superficially elegant, well-educated son of the pseudo-aristocracy that governed the former British colonies. Now a retired judge in his 80s whose wife has recently passed awy, Old Filth (Failed in London, Try Hong Kong) struggles to find a mooring in a changing world, and along the way, comes to terms with his past. Summed up, Feathers's childhood was shaped by a series of handings-off. His mother died following his birth, and, with barely a single glance, his father shuttled him off to live with Malaysian locals until he was 4-1/2, at which time he was ripped from the arms of the only caretaker he had ever known and sent, along with two young female cousins, to live in a foster home in Wales. This home was not, shall we say, the ideal situation for young children, but it met Feathers senior's criteria: it was cheap. When circumstances forced him to be moved yet again, young Eddie was whisked off to his father's old prep school--a place where, fortunately, he thrived academically and made his first real friend, Pat Ingleby. On holidays spent with the Inglebys (who were properly remunerated by his father), Eddie had his first taste of what family life might be like.But, alas, World War II intervened, bringing with it a series of losses and tragedies. Almost 18, and just as he passed the Oxford entrance exams, Eddie's father decides he should join not the RAF but the ranks of England's child refugees, and, once again, he becomes a pawn in motion.The above "life itinerary" barely scratches the surface of Gardam's thoroughly engaging story, a story that is alternately funny and heartbreaking. Nor does it do justice to the many unique and fascinating characters in Feathers's life: his Scottish wife Betty; his judicial rival Veneering; cousins Babs and Claire (both as girls and as elderly women); Albert Loss, a fellow passenger on board a ship bound for Singapore; "Sir," the lovable prep school headmaster; and many others.Read it--you won't be sorry.As for me, I'm off to start Gardam's follow-up novel, The Man in the Wooden Hat, which apparently focuses on Betty Feathers.

[sheiladeeth_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

They don’t even see him, in a corner of the room, when today’s important lawyers remember Old Filth. They remember him with a touch of fond reverence—Failed In London but surely made it when he Tried Hongkong. They know he’s back in England, and his wife died, and there was that thing... maybe.But there are many “things” hiding in Jane Gardam’s novel, Old Filth: The history of England’s children, born in the Empire’s farflung corners and sent “home” because, somehow, foreign illnesses might be more dangerous than growing up without a family; the history of war, its confusion and agony and loss; and the history of law in the promise of foreign shores. Relationships slowly reveal themselves in new lights as different characters take the stage. And behind it all, almost unseen, Old Filth is almost accidentally gathering his fractured selves into one—invisible, lost, forgotten, then remembered again.The writing is pleasingly spare, inviting readers to connect the dots, and rewarding them with brilliantly evocative scenes, low-key pathos and humor, and powerful depths of character and relationships. Events shift effortlessly from past to present, from Malaysia to boarding school and university; and every mystery hides its own kind of answer, near or far, waiting for its perfect revelation. The novel is powerfully moving. The protagonist demands an almost reluctant sympathy. And the decline and fall of Empire are beautifully chronicled in the life of a lonely, oddly appealing, irascible old man.Disclosure: Our book group picked this book and I’m so glad they did.

[ehines_20 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The construction of the novel reminded me of Catch-22, but the story being built here is a much more personal one, and the architecture reflects the eccentricities of the main character rather than ostentatious intricacies from the author.The personal story has a lot to do with mortality and loss (the name of one of the characters), but even more about the losses we incur without anyone dying--through separation, neglect, growing apart, ignorance, arrogance, inability to communicate, the passage of time . . . how many of our connections we cheapen, lose or fail to make in the first place.And sometimes how fragile & tawdry our connections are in any case.If this sounds depressing/disturbing, this novel can be that.But it also has another side: where tawdry relationships can actually come to mean a little something. Where people's seeming self-seeking is actually altruistic. Where people do care, if not absolutely and forever, at least for a time.For a novel with a character named Vaneering, it has a very unvarnished feel to it.

[eyejaybee · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This novel lays out the life story of the immaculately dressed Sir Edward Feathers from his birth in Malaya during the colonial period, through his career as a barrister and later a judge spent mainly in Hong Kong, and then his retirement and old age in Dorset.Edward was known as "Old Filth", the name coming from the acronym FILTH (Failed in London, Try Hong Kong), and this certainly seems to have applied to Feathers. His birth was shrouded in tragedy as his mother died just three days later. Edward was brought up by the Malay servants of his colonial father who had virtually no contact with the boy. The boy is sent home to Britain to receive a "proper" education and finds himself lodging with a dubious family in Wales (where he was subjected to domestic abuse) before being sent off to a private preparatory school and then public school. While there he become very friendly with Pat Ingoldby, and spends his school vacations at Pat's home where he almost becomes part of the family. The Second World War intervenes, and having secured a deferred place in Oxford Edward wants to sign up. Following the war he embarks on an undistinguished career at the London Bar before deciding to head back east to carve out a life for himself.The story is alternatively amusing and sad, and told with great gentleness. In Hong Kong Feathers becomes a great success, marrying Betty and falling into a bitter rivalry with a fellow lawyer named Veneering. This rivalry almost becomes the defining aspect of his career.This well-written novel was certainly entertaining, and it kept my attention, though I felt that there was something missing (I can't say what, but I kept expecting something else to emerge to round the story off).

[stillatim · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I should have read this a long time ago: great British stylist, commentary on the end of empire. I blame Irvine Welsh's book 'Filth,' the title of which probably biased me against this very, very different book. It's also possible that the blurb Europa Editions put on the front put me off: "Old Filth belongs in the Dickensian pantheon of memorable characters." I'm not so big on the character driven novel.

Anyway, there's a lot to like here. It reads a bit like Evelyn Waugh when he's being sentimental, or Anthony Powell when he's being completely un-Proustian. There's a very small amount of non-standard-novel stuff (theatrical sections; dipping and diving into and out of close third person in a fun way), and the book might have benefited from a bit more of that. But even without that it was a charming way to spend the weekend, which didn't leave me feeling that my brain had been switched off for long periods of time.

On the downside, there was a bit too much 'back in the old days...' guff towards the end, and some 'I really like this but don't understand what it's doing in *this* novel' bits that a more scrupulous editors would have cut. I'm looking forward to the sequels.

Speaking of sequels, why do smart *female* novelists have such a thing about trilogies? Gardam's got one; Mantel will the have one soon; Kate Millett's got one; I believe Marilynne Robinson's going to complete one soon. But I can't think of any contemporary male novelists who do this. I sniff a Master's thesis somewhere...

[lisapeet · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved this. Gardam's really got some wonderful non-linear storytelling at work here, and she's so good with her pacing. Tales of old men looking back can be so heavy-handed, but in this case—an elderly, well-off barrister cracking the door to his own interior life—is well done and full of small surprises. And very astute, both psychologically and emotionally, which is such a reward for the reader. There's no place in which the story ever condescends.I'm not generally a reading Anglophile, and that particularly Britishy tone doesn't always do it for me, but she's made me a fan (at least of hers). Now I'm wondering if the other two in the trilogy are as good.Bloom profile of Jane Gardam coming next month, so stay tuned.

[brocade_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Well-written. Essentially descriptive with the story fitting together in surprising and odd-shaped puzzle pieces. The character of Old Filth is only finally revealed by the end of the book. He's not a likable man but the reader grows to understand that it's not his fault. In fact, he's done very well considering the circumstances of his life.

[amy_marie26 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Spoilers ensue: Old Filth, one Sir Edward Feathers, a venerated barrister (I think - I'm not positive of the distinction between solicitors and barristers) looks back over his very long, very English life. After his mother died giving birth to him, his distant father, a District Officer in Malay, sends Teddy to live with his wet nurse and her family. Teddy spends the first four years of his life in perfect bliss, speaking on Malay and generally adored by the wet nurse's eldest daughter, Ada. At the age of four and a half, the no-nonsense missionary, Auntie May, enters into his life and convinces his ambivalent father to send him to Wales, to be raised with two distant cousins, Claire and Babs. After some harrowing events, he is retrieved by the kindly Sir, the headmaster of his father's prep school, where he will know reside and study. At school, he befriends Patrick Ingoldby, and becomes enmeshed in the Ingoldby's family. WWI breaks out and Edward stays briefly with his two, athletic maiden aunts, though his plans for Oxford are postponed when his father sends for him - Edward is on the very cusp of 18, therefore, he can't enlist and must travel to Singapore with the other child evacuees, which he finds highly embarrassing. The only other evacuee is a streetwise fourteen year old half-Chinese boy named Albert Ross, or Loss. After the ship arrives in Singapore, he learns the Japanese have invaded and he is sent back to England, though Loss decides to remain behind. Edward's return is ignominious - he becomes extremely sick from eating too many bananas and ends up passing out and waking in a hospital ward. He joins his father's old regiment, though because he is still a bit weak from his sickness (and from a romp in the hay with a passing milk maid), he is sent to guard Queen Mary, the King's mother, who has been sent from London to avoid a kidnapping. The Queen is fond of Edward because of his stutter (which reminds her of her own dear son). After the war, Edward is a young lawyer, specializing in building and land, assuming it would be a practical choice following the war. He struggles to find clients, until he runs into the prosperous Loss, who has become a lawyer also. Loss offers Edward a lucrative position in Asia. Edward's memories are interspersed with his present day situation - after retiring comfortably in Hong Kong, Edward and his wife, Betty, retire to the English countryside. Betty is a marvelous character who keels over while planting the tulips. Edward, unsure of himself following Betty's death, befriends his former arch enemy, Veneering (who was also an attorney in Hong Kong and with whom Betty was having an affair); impulsively visits his cousins, Babs and Claire; slowly becomes a bit kinder to his housekeeper, Katey, whom he previously called Mrs. Thing or Mrs -er; and finally opens up about the terrible events that occurred while he lived with the Didds, his Welsh foster parents (this latter event was in the form of a not-quite confession to a priest, who visited him in the hospital following a severe case of indigestion that was diagnosed as a heart attack). After recovering, Edward finally decides to make a trip to Asia - where he steps off the plane AND DIES. I put off starting this book for some time, but once I began, it was difficult to put down. As you might tell from the summary, there isn't one plot line propelling the entire story forward. Rather, the book meanders across past and present, sometimes picking up a point of view of another, minor character. Edward Feathers is a wonderful character and it is interesting to see how he grew from the young, stuttering Teddy, who was essentially abandoned by his family, suffered a difficult childhood with abusive foster parents, and who was emotionally betrayed by his first and closest friend to the traditional, reserved and old-world present-day Edward. Edward is often subject to events beyond his control - his mother dies, he is sent away to England as a child, he is forced to evacuate during the war, he isn't permitted to fight when he enlists - but he doesn't make much of fuss (besides protesting to his father that it is quite embarrassing to be evacuated as a teenager, when the other evacuees will all be children), and even that is quite subdued. He accepts life's trials and tribulations with fortitude and iittle reflection, and though it may sound boring, it's not at all. It's compelling and witty, often very funny and touching. Poor Old Filth is an ancient relic - but his exploits are legendary and despite his difficult start, he even manages to impress the Modern Career Woman. I have an extremely long to-read list, but I am looking forward to picking up the next book in the trilogy, The Man in the Wooden Hat, which focuses on Betty's perspective.

[eglinton_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Visitor from an older generation comes to reproach us with her refined and restrained diction, precise emotions, and era-spanning insights.  But not with easy nostalgia for better times - she's unflinching in showing the callous and harmful ways of that older generation.  Always interesting but never gripping, the tale goes back and forth through the memories of the title character, an aged and prosperous lawyer of Empire stock. The bit-part characters, quirky and unbalanced, are more memorable. Enjoy the language too, as a few archaic words are brought out of storage, delicately unwrapped from their tissue paper padding - 'gymkhana', 'sponge bag'.

[notesmusings · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Eddie Feathers was an accomplished and admired judge and, before that, solicitor, working in Hong Kong before retiring to Dorset. The engaging title of the novel was his nickname within the legal world. In his private life, however, he was a monumental underachiever, living within a shell of icy dignity, married to a decent but (towards him) passionless wife. They have no children. The Justice had been dealt a colossal injustice in his developmental days. The old filth of his past emerges as he reminisces in late life, and revisits old locales in both mind and person. Times sequences are chopped about in the novel, as they are inside Old Filth's head.His personal story is caught up in the emotional sterility of the Empire. He had been born in Malaya, his mother dying in childbirth, after which his father, emotionally smashed by WWI (like one of the fathers in Flight of the Maidens) ignores Eddie's existence. The boy is allowed to wander as he will, flourishing amongst the local Malay children, mothered by a warm local woman - until the age of four, when Auntie Madeleine (a female type found so often in Gardam's books) engineers the Right Thing and has him returned to England. He emerges somehow with a charisma that endears him to women throughout his life, but nothing within him resonates when they offer love.

[lxydis-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Excellent. The time and place-warping is fascinating. The writing is brilliant, the place, time, mind changes exquisitely handled (techniques that become clicheed conceits in lesser novels). Next read Man With Wooden Hat. Each time I finish one of these books, I want to immediately start with the other, ad infinitum....

[katiekrug · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A bittersweet novel about the life of a Raj orphan and his inability to forge genuine connections with other people. While very sad in parts, it was also unexpectedly funny, and I found it difficult to put down. As Filth looks back on his long life and tries to make sense of it, we are provided a picture of one man's loneliness, failings, and desire for redemption. A wonderful, wonderful novel.