Old Filth Audiobook By Jane Gardam cover art

Old Filth

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Old Filth

By: Jane Gardam
Narrated by: Bill Wallace
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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 80-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 20th century's torrid and momentous history.

©2004 Jane Gardam (P)2020 Recorded Books Biographical Fiction Genre Fiction
Engaging Story • Wonderful Characters • Beautifully Written • Masterful Storytelling • Flawless Delivery

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Jane Gardam’s masterpiece. A time, a place, with priceless characters. What is it to love? Eddie Feathers, comes full circle to appreciate his arch enemy, and recognize that love as well as hate can sometimes disguise much deeper feelings.

Old Filth… for the ages. Spectacular.

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Could not stop listening to this engaging story with such wonderful characters. I was so glad to find that it was part of the series. I read the whole thing in a weekend!

Wonderful story and narration

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A narrative with a slow burn. I listened to the Audible version narrated by Bill Wallace - very British, loved the delivery. He captured all the nuances of Old Filth’s memories.

There are two books that flow this in the series, I hope to get a chance to read them.

Great philosophies on war, terrorism, the raising of children, the choices we make, guilt, love, and friendship. In short, a fantastic book of human nature and some sprinkling of Magical Realism.

A great classic

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Great performance brings alive this narration about memory aging and how we create our reality . I’m a mystery reader and while not considered a mystery, this is about living our own. In this case a peek into the Raj and its effects on the children born there

Brilliant and wise

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The story was rather difficult to make sense of in the beginning. However, it hooked me and I found it especially historically interesting, especially since I had lived in the Far East in the last century.

Surprisingly excellent read

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