old filth

Old Filth by Jane Gardam (Europa Editions, 2006)

A lovely, peculiar book.  The life, from cradle to grave, of Edward Feathers, a Raj orphan born in Mayala and sent back to England at the age of five, where he is reared by an evil abusive foster mother in Wales, due to the selfishness and duplicity of his two maiden aunts.  Once the foster mother is murdered by her wards, Feathers is removed to an eccentric but nurturing boarding school, where he is befriended by a nice boy and taken in by his nice family (on holidays).  The structure of the books is ingenious and intriguing, moving back and forth in time prismatically so that moments are refracted against others (and sometimes themselves).  The writing is smart and crisp and sly (although occasionally sentimental), and Feathers, who becomes known as Old Filth (Finished In London Try  Hong Kong), is an exceptionally delightful, sympathetic, and poignant character.  Somewhat redolent of William Boyd’s wonderful novel  Any Human Heart in its gentle command of time and space.  A beautiful book.