<div>First in the Old Filth trilogy. A New York Times Notable Book. “Old Filth belongs in the Dickensian pantheon of memorable characters” (The New York Times Book Review). 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. SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORANGE PRIZE “Will bring immense pleasure to readers who treasure fiction that is intelligent, witty, sophisticated and—a quality encountered all too rarely in contemporary culture—adult.” —The Washington Post “Gardam is an exquisite storyteller, picking up threads, laying them down, returning to them and giving them new meaning . . . Old Filth is sad, funny, beautiful and haunting.” —The Seattle Times “A masterpiece of storytelling.” —The Dallas Morning News</div>

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Old Filth

<div>“Pure delight . . . One perfect story after another” from the Whitbread Award–winning author of the Old Filth trilogy (The Sunday Telegraph). From the inimitable Jane Gardam, whose Old Filth trilogy cemented her status as one of England’s greatest living novelists, comes a collection of short stories that showcase her subversive wit, gentle humor, and insight into the human condition. Gardam’s versatility is on full display, while her sublime grasp of language and powers of observation remain as provocative as ever. “A formidable collection that is at once outlandish and entirely convincing . . . It is Gardam’s gift for the ecstatic, for showing us what a place of wonders is the world and the hearts that dwell in it, that endows this collection with a dangerous and formidable energy, richer and more concentrated than any novel. She gives us miracle heaped upon miracle, and insists that they should each one be handled with care.” —The Guardian “Unexpected appearance of figures from the past drive many of these sly, bighearted tales.” —The New York Times “Readers will feel lucky to have so much good writing in one place.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Gardam’s preference for short stories shows in this extraordinary collection of great writing.” —NewPages Book Reviews “A rich haul from a well of talent.” —Kirkus Reviews</div>

The Stories of Jane Gardam

<div>The Whitbread Award&ndash;winning author of the Old Filth trilogy captures a moment in time for three young women on the cusp of adulthood. Yorkshire, 1946. The end of the war has changed the world again, and, emboldened by this new dawning, Hetty Fallows, Una Vane, and Lieselotte Klein seize the opportunities with enthusiasm. Hetty, desperate to escape the grasp of her critical mother, books a solo holiday to the Lake District under the pretext of completing her Oxford summer coursework. Una, the daughter of a disconcertingly cheery hairdresser, entertains a romantically inclined young man from the wrong side of the tracks and the left-side of politics. Meanwhile, Lieselotte, the mysterious Jewish refugee from Germany, leaves the Quaker family who had rescued her, to test herself in London. Although strikingly different from one another, these young women share the common goal of adventure and release from their middle-class surroundings through romance and education. &ldquo;Gardam&rsquo;s lean, fast-paced prose is at turns hugely funny and deeply moving. . . . [Her] characters are acutely and compassionately observed.&rdquo; &mdash;Atlantic Monthly &ldquo;Quirky, enchanting . . . with lively, laugh-out loud elan.&rdquo; &mdash;The Baltimore Sun &ldquo;Splendid . . . Gardam&rsquo;s style is perfect.&rdquo; &mdash;The New York Times Book Review &ldquo;With winning charm and wit . . . Gardam frames her story in dozens of crisp, brief scenes featuring deliciously dizzy conversation.&rdquo; &mdash;Kirkus Reviews (starred review) &ldquo;Ebullient, humorous, and wise, this is a novel to savor.&rdquo; &mdash;Booklist &ldquo;The portrait of postwar England as conventions crumble and the country is rebuilt is terrific.&rdquo; &mdash;Publishers Weekly</div>

The Flight of the Maidens

<div>&ldquo;A quirky coming-of-age story . . . Female adolescence as imagined by one of the 20th century&rsquo;s best&mdash;and most peculiar&mdash;writers&rdquo; (Kirkus Reviews). Originally published in 1977, Jane Gardams Bilgewater is an affectionate and complex rendering-in-miniature of the discomforts of growing up and first love seen through the eyes of inimitable Marigold Green, an awkward, eccentric, highly intelligent girl. The Evening Standard described Bilgewater as &ldquo;one of the funniest, most entertaining, most unusual stories about young love.&rdquo; Motherless and sixteen, Marigold is the headmaster&rsquo;s daughter at a private backwater all-boys school. To make matters worse, Marigold pines for head boy Jack Rose, reckons with the beautiful and domineering Grace, and yanks herself headlong out of her interior world and into the seething cauldron of adolescence. With everything happening all at once, Marigold faces the greatest of teenage crucibles. A smart and painterly romp in the rich tradition of The Hollow Land and A Long Way from Verona, Gardam&rsquo;s elegant, evocative prose, possessed of sharp irony and easy surrealism makes Bilgewater a book for readers of all ages. &ldquo;This is no ordinary bildungsroman.&rdquo; &mdash;New Pages &ldquo;A striking story.&rdquo; &mdash;Times Literary Supplement</div>

Bilgewater

<div>A novel that&rsquo;s &ldquo;brilliant on sex, brilliant on bereavement and death, brilliant on god, brilliant on dottiness&rdquo; from the acclaimed author of Old Filth (A. N. Wilson, Evening Standard). The story of a motherless girl named Faith and her family and close friends, all of whom are determined to see her live a happy life. Faith&rsquo;s mother died in childbirth; her overworked father cannot raise his child alone; and her unconventional grandmother refuses to acknowledge the child whose birth took away the daughter she loved. And so a motley crew of family and friends converges to see that Faith is brought up correctly. The concerned parties include Faith&rsquo;s uncle, who runs a commune in northern England; the Tibetan refugees who have moved in with him; and the splendidly bickering paternal grandparents. What ensues is a brilliant comedy of manners set equally amidst high society and low. Faith Fox is a story that explores the wonder of the human heart in all its thunderous eccentricity. Gardam has mastered the essence of age and youth and above all nonconformity. Her memorable characters are sure to delight. &ldquo;Wonderful, sharply observed, deeply funny.&rdquo; &mdash;The Minneapolis Star-Tribune &ldquo;[A] cleverly wrought British import . . . That Gardam is a virtuoso of structure creeps up on you until you begin to glimpse the outlines of the multiple subplots converging with the satisfying click that reminds you that you&rsquo;re in the hands of a master.&rdquo; &mdash;St. Louis Post-Dispatch &ldquo;Hugely funny and deeply moving.&rdquo; &mdash;The Atlantic &ldquo;Pure pleasure.&rdquo; &mdash;Anita Brookner, author of The Debut &ldquo;An endearing story. Gardam&rsquo;s feisty characters deliver a tale that crackles with charm and energy.&rdquo; &mdash;Kirkus Reviews (starred review)</div>

Faith Fox

<div>&ldquo;Far more than just another coming-of-age story&rdquo; from the award-winning author of the Old Filth trilogy (Bustle). Jane Gardam&rsquo;s marvelous stories of young girls on the threshold of womanhood&mdash;God on the Rocks and Crusoe&rsquo;s Daughter&mdash;have delighted fans and critics alike. These &ldquo;modern classics&rdquo; are now joined by a novel that is equally fresh and genuine, comic and touching (The Independent). Jessica Vye introduces herself with an enigmatic pronouncement: &ldquo;I ought to tell you at the beginning that I am not quite normal, having had a violent experience at the age of nine.&rdquo; A revered author has told Jessica that she is, beyond all doubt, a born writer. This proves an accurate prediction of the future, one that indelibly colors her life at school and her perception of the world. Jessica has always known that her destiny would be shaped by her refusal to conform, her compulsion to tell the absolute truth, and her dedication to observing the strange wartime world that surrounds her. What she doesn&rsquo;t know, however, is that the experiences and ideas that set her apart will also lead her to a new and wholly unexpected life. Told with grace and inimitable wit, A Long Way from Verona is a wise and vivid portrait of adolescent discovery and impending adulthood. &ldquo;A book to be judged by the highest standards.&rdquo; &mdash;The Spectator &ldquo;A brilliant, witty, and agonizingly true-to-life novel.&rdquo; &mdash;The Times Literary Supplement &ldquo;A fiercely funny and personal book.&rdquo; &mdash;The Economist &ldquo;The qualities for which Gardam is cherished (the quirkiness, the bright-eyed wonder at reality) are already apparent in this early work.&rdquo; &mdash;Kirkus Reviews</div>

A Long Way from Verona

<div>Winner of the Whitbread Prize for Best Novel of the Year: “Gardam’s portrait of an insanely imaginative woman in an elusive midlife crisis is impeccably drawn” (The Seattle Times). With prose that is vibrant and witty, The Queen of the Tambourine traces the emotional breakdown—and eventual restoration—of Eliza Peabody, a smart and wildly imaginative woman who has become unbearably isolated in her prosperous London neighborhood. The letters Eliza writes to her neighbor, a woman whom she hardly knows, reveal her self-propelled descent into madness. Eliza must reach the depths of her downward spiral before she can once again find health and serenity. This story of a woman’s confrontation with the realities of sanity will delight readers who enjoy the works of Anita Brookner, Sybille Bedford, Muriel Spark, and Sylvia Plath. “Excellently done . . . Manic delusions have never been so persuasive . . . Very moving when it is not being exceedingly funny.” —Anita Brookner, award-winning author of The Debut “British author Gardam, who won the Whitbread Award for this jigsaw puzzle of a novel, keeps up the suspense to the end, writing like a sorceress in the meantime.” —The Seattle Times “Brilliant.” —The Sunday Times “An ingenious, funny, satirical, sad story . . . Vivid and poignant.” —The Independent on Sunday “Wickedly comic . . . masterly and hugely enjoyable.” —Daily Mail “Marvelously subtle and moving.” —The Times (London)</div>

The Queen of the Tambourine

<div>From the award-winning author of Old Filth. &ldquo;[A] wonderfully old-fashioned novel . . . This post-Victorian charmer is an engrossing delight&rdquo; (People). In 1904, six-year-old Polly Flint is sent by her sea captain father to live with her aunts in a house by the sea on England&rsquo;s northeast coast. Orphaned shortly thereafter, Polly will spend the next eighty years stranded in this quiet corner of the world as the twentieth century rages in the background. Through it all, Polly returns again and again to the story of Robinson Crusoe, who, marooned like her, fends off the madness of isolation with imagination. In the Guardian&rsquo;s series on writers and readers&rsquo; favorite comfort books, associate editor Claire Armitstead said of Crusoe&rsquo;s Daughter, &ldquo;This is the most bookish of books . . . Every time I return to it, I am comforted by its refusal to conform, its wonderful, boisterous bolshiness, and the intelligence with which it demonstrates that we are what we read.&rdquo; &ldquo;Witty, subversive, moving.&rdquo; &mdash;The Times (London) &ldquo;[A] richly textured novel . . . much occurs on the emotional landscape. We know Polly intimately, and she haunts our imaginations as surely as Crusoe haunts hers . . . a thought-provoking book.&rdquo; &mdash;Library Journal &ldquo;[The] most seductively entertaining of British novelists.&rdquo; &mdash;Kirkus Reviews</div>

Crusoe's Daughter

<div>“Engrossing stories of hilarity and heartbreak” from the Whitbread Award–winning author of the Old Filth trilogy (The Seattle Times). A collection of stories from a writer at the height of her powers—a celebrated stylist admired for her caustic humor, freewheeling imagination, love of humanity, and wicked powers of observation. This is a delightful grouping of stories, witty and wise, that includes the return of Sir Edward Feathers, “Old Filth” himself. “[Gardam’s] stories, like delicate tapestries, are alight with colors.” —The Times (London) “When Gardam hits her mark, like other exemplary short-story writers such as William Trevor, Sylvia Townsend Warner and Elizabeth Taylor, she can be dazzling.” —The Guardian “Gardam’s brisk narration and fearless temperament make for serious fun.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Wry, economical and perpetually surprising, these 14 stories from English novelist Gardam follow the last of the intrepid, stiff upper lip WWII generation of British ladies and gentlemen. . . . Gardam vividly evokes an age of iron wills.” —Publishers Weekly “Gardam displays the consummate skill of the short-story-teller, which is that of the caricaturist, the ability to capture a personality in a few brief strokes. . . . Privilege Hill is a collection of gentle stories that you could read to your grandmother, with the kind of sharp wit that would no doubt give her a secret smile. But they’re deeper than they look . . . so don’t read them all at once.” —The Bookbag</div>

The People on Privilege Hill

<div>Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize: “So charming a novel that you don’t want to give away a single one of the many twists of its plot” (The New York Times). Originally published in Great Britain in 1978, the novel describes Margaret Marsh’s coming of age one summer between the world wars. Caught in the backwash of a fervently religious father, a mother bitterly nostalgic for what might have been, the tea and sympathy of some thoroughly secular neighbors and the bawdy jokes of her nanny Lydia, Margaret’s world hurtles toward a shattering moment of truth. Drama, tragedy, and a touch of farce lend themselves to Gardam’s typically eloquent prose. With subtlety and precision, God on the Rocks provides an intimate portrait of the tensions that divide men and women, present and past, and the love and sorrow that linger throughout. Jane Gardam’s reputation in the United States has been greatly enlarged by the critical acclaim and commercial success garnered by her latest novels, Man in the Wooden Hat and her masterpiece Old Filth. Now, newcomers and fans alike can enjoy the pleasure of the splendid writing that established Gardam’s considerable canon some four decades ago. “Gardam is a unique and wonderful writer, mixing no-nonsense presentations of heartbreak, despair, and uncertainty, with equally dry but hilarious bouts of humor, desire, love, friendship, and even happiness, fleeting as that might be.” —The Huffington Post “Gardam orchestrates the subtle evolution of character and plot with Olympian omniscience and wry humor.” —The Boston Globe “God on the Rocks offers plenty of the wit and humanity that are her trademarks.” —The Christian Science Monitor</div>

God on the Rocks

<div>Second in the Old Filth trilogy. “An astute, subtle depiction of marriage . . . absolutely wonderful” (The Washington Post). Acclaimed as Jane Gardam’s masterpiece, Old Filth is a lyrical novel that recalls the fully lived life of Sir Edward Feathers. The Man in the Wooden Hat is the history of his marriage told from the perspective of his wife, Betty, a character as vivid and enchanting as Filth himself. They met in Hong Kong after the war. Betty had spent the duration in a Japanese internment camp. Filth was already a successful barrister, handsome, fast becoming rich, in need of a wife but unaccustomed to romance. A perfect English couple of the late 1940s. As a portrait of a marriage, with all the bittersweet secrets and surprising fulfillment of the fifty-year union of two remarkable people, The Man in the Wooden Hat is a triumph. Fiction of a very high order from a great novelist working at the pinnacle of her considerable power, it will be read and loved and recommended by all the many thousands of readers who found its predecessor, Old Filth, so compelling and thoroughly satisfying. “Funny and affecting . . . It’s remarkable.” —The New York Times Book Review “The latest occasion to celebrate Gardam . . . [a] superb novel.” —Maureen Corrigan, NPR “Told with quintessentially British humor . . . Gardam’s prose is witty and precise.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “It’s magnificent. . . . Funny, intelligent and immensely moving.” —Kirkus Reviews</div>

The Man in the Wooden Hat

<div>“The satisfying conclusion to Gardam’s 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 Betty’s story. Last Friends is Terence Veneering’s turn. His beginnings were not those of the usual establishment grandee. Filth’s 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 other’s last friend as this magnificent series ends with the deep and abiding satisfaction that only great literature provides. “[Gardam’s] 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 Post “Restores 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 Globe “All three Gardam books are beautifully written but it’s a pleasure to note that Last Friends is the most enjoyable, the funniest and the most touching.” —National Post</div>

Last Friends

<div>The complete &ldquo;wonderfully entertaining trilogy&rdquo; about three British friends approaching their twilight years with bittersweet humor (The Washington Post). Jane Gardam&rsquo;s beloved Old Filth Trilogy&mdash;including her masterpiece, Old Filth, voted one of the 100 greatest British novels in a BBC survey; The Man in the Wooden Hat; and Last Friends&mdash;are here presented in one volume. Emotionally distant but highly successful Edward Feathers, aka Old Filth, a man who &ldquo;belongs in the Dickensian pantheon of memorable characters&rdquo; (TheNew York Times Book Review), his beautiful wife Betty, and his devilishly handsome professional rival (and Betty&rsquo;s onetime lover) Edward Veneering are the anchors of this series, with each novel focusing on a different character. Feathers was a &ldquo;raj orphan&rdquo;&mdash;children born in Far East British colonies and raised in England&mdash;while Veneering managed to get out of his fishing village-turned-industrial-town just before the German bombs dropped (and his luck has held up pretty well ever since). The three tells a bittersweet tale of enduring friendship while contending with the disappointments and consolations of age, while a once-insurmountable empire declines around them. It forms a deeply humane and often comic portrait of aging, and a reminder that the experiences we choose to take with us in our twilight years are as unpredictable as life itself. &ldquo;Her prose is so perceptive and fluid that it feels mentally healthful, exiling the noise and clutter of your mind as efficiently as a Schubert sonata. She could make actuarial tables pleasurable.&rdquo;&mdash;The New York Times Book Review &ldquo;Gardam is the best British writer you&rsquo;ve never heard of.&rdquo;&mdash;Maureen Corrigan, NPR</div>

The Old Filth Trilogy

<div>New York Times Notable Book and Whitbread Award Winner: Tales of two boys’ adventures in the English countryside from “an exquisite storyteller” (The Seattle Times). The barren, beautiful Cumbrian fells provide the bewitching setting for the adventures of Bell and Harry, two children who find enchanting wonder at every turn as they explore the area that Bell’s grandfather calls the hollow land. There are ancient mysteries to explore and uncover, like the case of the Egg Witch, and everyone is curious about the Household Name, a wildly famous Londoner moving into the jewel of the territory, Light Trees Farm. With painterly ease, Jane Gardam’s linked stories are “a buoyant collection” to please old fans and new (Kirkus Reviews). “Like Mark Twain’s depictions of youth, Gardam demonstrates that the enduring lessons of boyhood and lifelong friendship can delight readers of any age.” —Publishers Weekly “Gardam will bring immense pleasure to readers who treasure fiction that is intelligent, witty, sophisticated.” —The Washington Post</div>

Jane Gardam
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Books By Jane Gardam (14 Books)