Last Friends brings Old Filth trilogy to an end

The End of a marvelous trilogy: Last Friends

Jane Gardam’s brilliant novel, Old Filth, left so many plot twists and engaging characters hanging that there simply had to be more.  Fans were happy when The Man in the Wooden Hat appeared, filling in more about the characters.  The latest and presumably last installment, Last Friends, completes the trilogy with all the main characters finally dead.

Gardam has fashioned an interesting cast and allowed them to wonder throughout the British Empire over most of the last century up to the present.  Last Friends shows the characters from different viewpoints and also from various points in life.  It’s a vantage point we seldom enjoy so fully in literature.  Gardam ties things up so completely you wonder if the world can be so tiny.  Throughout the story the same people re-appear in Wales, Hong Kong Cambridge. 

To be honest I read Old Filth (Failed in London Tried Hong Kong) two years ago and some of the characters had receded from memory.  While Gardam was so tightly wrapping up loose ends in Last Friends, I decided to re-read Old Filth, to refresh myself on who some of the characters were.   It’s preferable to read the books in order and close together in time.  I enjoyed the broad expanse of Old Filth’s universe even more the second time.  These are fascinating characters!  Gardam’s writing is deliciously good.

Old Filth is the masterpiece.  The Man in the Wooden Hat, and Last Friends are well worth reading because of that.