Jane Gardam's entirely original novel is, like MRS. BRIDGE, a "character study," but beyond that the books have little in common. "Filth" stands for "Failed in London Try Hong Kong," and the novel tells the winding, sweeping life story of the elderly retired judge Edward Feathers, born in colonial Malaya, then brought up in Wales and educated at Oxford. The book compresses time beautifully (it's not very long, and yet it essentially takes in a whole life); people who have read it feel excited when they find one another and get a chance to talk about Old Filth, his wife, and the cast of characters who swirl around them over time.
—Meg Wolitzer
