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).