Last Friends (The Old Filth Trilogy, 3)

ISBN: 1609450930

Author: Gardam, Jane

Condition: Used

The satisfying conclusion to Gardams Old Filth trilogy offers exquisite prose, wry humor, and keen insights into aging and death (The New Yorker).While Old Filth introduced readers to Sir Edward Feathers, his dreadful childhood, and his decades-long marriage, The Man in the Wooden Hat was his wife Bettys story. Last Friends is Terence Veneerings turn. His beginnings were not those of the usual establishment grandee. Filths 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 disappointments and consolations of age. They are all, finally, each others last friend as this magnificent series ends with the deep and abiding satisfaction that only great literature provides.[Gardams] prose sparkles with wit, compassion and humor. She keeps us entertained, and she keeps us guessing. Be thankful for her books. Be thankful for this trilogy, which is ultimately an elegy, created with deep affection.-The Washington PostRestores us to an era rich in spectacle and bristling with insinuation and intrigue. Vivid, spacious, superbly witty, and refreshingly brisk . . . the story (and the author) will endure.-The Boston GlobeAll three Gardam books are beautifully written but its a pleasure to note that Last Friends is the most enjoyable, the funniest and the most touching.-National Post