Jane Gardam: Old Filth, Abacus, 9780349139494,

A friend working in publishing recommended “Old Filth” by Jane Gardam to me when talking about books we had read recently.  I had never heard of Gardam before, despite her receiving the Whitbread /Costa Award for Best Novel twice, the only writer ever to achieve this.  So off I went to get a copy and to make a long story short, I loved her style of writing.  The Guardian called this novel “a masterpiece” and I can only confirm, very moving fiction at its best. It reminded me a little of “Any Human Heart” but of course “Old Filth” is set against an entirely different background. 

Old Filth – what the heck does this stand for you might wonder as did I, until it is explained: “Failed in London try Hong Kong”!   Old Filth or Sir Edward Feathers as he is also known amongst his peers was once a highly successful international lawyer with a practice in the Far East accumulating great wealth.  After retiring in a beautiful house with servants in the rural English countryside, his beloved wife Betty dies unexpectedly, leaving him utterly along with memories of his past starting to resurface. 

Eddie was once one of the so called Raj Orphans, children born in Asia to British parents, sent off at a very early age to England, raised in Foster homes never to see their parents again in some cases, turning some of them into emotional cripples for the rest of their lives.  The novel very cleverly shifts between Old Filth current widowed life,  his urge to visit  people he hasn’t seen in years  and memories of  the adventure that is called life.  There is his Malaysian childhood, the abusive foster family he and his cousins have to endure,   boarding school and university with mostly kind teachers shaping his adolesence,  the Ingoldby’s,  the family of his best buddy and soon his true emotional home,  a cold, indifferent father and the equally callous aunts he is forced to live with.  The only criticism I would have is that too little is written about his life with Betty in Asia. But I soon discovered  that  Jane Gardam has written “The Man in the wooden hat” which is Betty’s, Old Filth’ wife, life story !  I have already order my copy and cannot wait to read her side of the story which evidentially reveals more about their time in Asia.

“Old Filth”  was published already in 2004 by Chatto & Windus ,  German publishers have only just discovered and published  the novel with the title “Ein untadeliger Mann” (Hanser Berlin).  

Craig Johnson: Dry Bones, 9780525426936, Viking US (Penguin Random House imprint)

I have a great weakness for Craig Johnson’s novels featuring Sheriff Walt Longmire and his recurring cast of characters, daughter Cady, Undersheriff Vic Moretti, his dog named Dog and best friend Henry Standing Bear.  So every time Craig Johnson completes a new book, I know a few great hours of reading and an armchair trip to Wyoming’s cowboy country are in store. Yippee! 

Apparently I am not the only one who thinks so, Johnson is hugely popular in the US and Warner Bros. “Longmire” TV hit show, also available on Netflix, have no doubt helped spreading the word.

I have no idea why German editors have missed Craig Johnson so far; apparently German publishers think his books are to US focused.  I would bet the TV show and the books would find their fans.

“Dry Bones” delivers with a good plot as all his other novels do,  I especially like the dry sense of humor which reminds me of old Westerns.  The bones of a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton shake up the peace in Absaroka County, with the High Plains Dinosaur Museum and Danny Lone Elk’s family battling over this windfall after he is found dead in a turtle pond. When the FBI descend on the town, the number of groups claiming the skeloton increases which is worth several million dollar. Walt is determined to find out who killed Danny Lone Elk and who is to profit the most from his death. Soon after Walt’s daughter Cady finally arrives home for visit with his grand- daughter Lola, a new tragedy strikes the family.  

If you have not read any of the previous Longmire stories, it is best to start with the first one, The Cold Dish. They can all be read standalone but it is more satisfying to know how all characters find their place in Longmire’s life.  (The first 4 are The Cold Dish, Death without Company, Kindness Goes Unpunished, Another Man's Moccasins).

William Boyd: Sweet Caress, Bloomsbury UK, 9781408867976

Before I start telling you about “Sweet Caress”, William Boyd’s most recent novel, I have to confess that “Any Human Heart” is on the shelf of my all-time favorite books.  He is one of my favorite contemporary authors, a master storyteller  and whenever a new novel by him is published, I race out to get my hands on it. (Apart from his latest James Bond novel)  Lucky me – he was published by Penguin for many years and then moved to Bloomsbury, two publishers I represented in Germany for many years and therefore was privileged to get my hands on early proofs. 

If you are looking for a female version in the footsteps of “Any Human Heart”, you will find it in “Sweet Caress”, seen thru the lens of Amory Clay, a photographer. It is a tour de force through the 20^th Century and such a wonderful book – I feel sad it is finished now , wanted it to go on for a while longer than the 448 pages it already has. 

Amory Clay is a fictional character but I found myself researching her name in Wikipedia, the idea to place  photos of events and people in the book make her novel life sound so very  real.  Very clever idea, some of the characters Amory meets, like in Any Human heart, are real and Boyd lists them in “Acknowledgements”.  From Amory’s birthday in 1908 up to her death, she memorizes her life as an elderly person in 1977 living in Scotland, with her thoughts trailing back in chronological order to times gone by.  You feel like you are sitting in her living room listening to her life story.

There are the damaged souls returning from WWI during  her childhood , her father in particular, her photographer uncle Grenville who is responsible for putting the first camera in her hands  with whom he shares a special emotional bond , her years in London as his apprentice taking photographs of socialites for fashionable magazines,  the Berlin of the late Twenties  and New York in  the Thirties, her run in with Black shirts in London  altering her life forever , and finally  becoming one of the few female WWII  photographers  until life has another major change in store for her .  Amory’s taste for adventure and her curiosity is always greater than her fear as she tries to pursue her life's  dream, her recollections of her love life and relationships are some of the best parts of the book.

English fiction at its very best   - thank you William Boyd for such a great story and a follow up to Any Human Heart!  I cannot wait to see what he is up to next.