Having thoroughly enjoyed [b:Old Filth|50284873|Old Filth|Jane Gardam|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1578255525l/50284873._SY75_.jpg|36965] and The Man with the Wooden Hat, I was disappointed in this last of the trilogy. This as because I wanted to know much more about Ross and had very little interest in Fiscal-Smith. Last Friends had its moments, but I soon tired of Dulcie's scatterbrain in the beginning and for some strange reason, the weak ending went the same way. Maybe Jane Gardam lost interest? I say this as a challenge to Jane Gardam but was she out of her depth with Ross? Someone not English. Surely not. Please bring on a 4th in the series. One that deals with Ross's background. ( )

Not ass good as Old Filth ( )

Jane Gardam moves a plot so quickly you're almost missing the details. And her characters so rich, with such spare details. What a master. ( )

I don't quite know what to make of this book. It's brilliant, as all Jane Gardam novels are; it's complex, perhaps overly so. In the end I thought it was too much work, alas. ( )

The third book in the loose “Old Filth” trilogy returns with more of the same beautiful writing, looking back at the life of Terence Veneering with recollections from peripheral characters in the previous books of Fiscal-Smith and Dulcie Williams, as well as Terry himself.
The three books, which are best read sequentially, cover Britain’s withdrawal from Imperial ambitions in the twentieth century by looking at the lives of a love triangle of sorts, Edward Feathers (Old Filth of the first book), his wife Elizabeth (Betty) Macintosh (central character of The Man in the Wooden Hat) and Terence Veneering (Old Filth’s professional and romantic adversary).
The books are often funny, nostalgic without being sentimental and beautifully written. This third book is perhaps least well structured, perhaps because some of the book revisits scenes from previous books, but from a different character’s perspective. But there are wonderful set pieces and the chapters step lightly in time and place from 1930’s working class England, to Malta, Hong Kong and back to retired professionals at the beginning of the twenty first century.
I didn’t recognise all of the Dickensian references, not having read Our Mutual Friend, but the Bleak House references were delightful.
And Gardam is still able to surprise in this final book, even if the coincidences are worthy of Dickens, and although it is all fiction, it is rather wonderful, warm and magical fun. ( )