LAST FRIENDS by Jane Gardam (fic)

This book is the third of a trilogy of superbly written books by Jane Gardam.  I recommend that you begin by reading "Old Filth" followed by "The Man in the Wooden Hat" and finally the above book, which would lose its relevance if read before the previous two.

All three books are tales told from the viewpoint of older characters looking back on their lives and how they mesh with each other's stories.  The stories range from the twenties through modern time and mainly involve three people, Edward Feathers Q.C. and his wife Betty and Terry Veneering, a handsome womanizer.  The first volume is about Edward Feathers, Old Filth of the title, which is an acronym for "Failed in London, Try Hong Kong."  The second book is about Betty who has a fling with Veneering, and finally the current book tells the story of Terry Veneering. The setting of the first two books is Hong Kong and through coincidence, or not, the principals all end up living in the same small village in the west of England.

"Last Friends" opens in Dorset in a village filled with the dotty type of characters that can only be  British.  One of my favorites is a somewhat confused old dear named Dulcie who rattles around in a large cold house.  She along with another eccentric elder called Fiscal-Smith are the last friends of the title.

As the book goes on, the reader discovers the real story of Terry Veneering who up to this point has presented as a sophisticated upper class Oxford graduate.  Contrary to his public persona, Veneering comes from a very poor Teeside mining town where his mother, Floorie supports the family by delivering coal and his father turns out to be a damaged Russian acrobat and even perhaps a spy.  Veneering is of course, not Terry's real name.  His mother is one of the more interesting characters in the novel.

Jane Gardam is an exceptional writer and these novels are funny and satirical, yet she gets to the real crux of her characters' beings.  I might have giggled my way through these novels, but I also realized that there were some real truths about people and relationships to be found in these pages.  I enjoyed all three books very much, perhaps the first two more than the third.