Old Filth by Jane Gardam

Old Filth by Jane Gardam

Old Filth was a 'child of the raj'. His earliest memories are of his amah, a teenage Malay girl - not of his mother who is dead, nor his father who can't cope. But very soon he is torn away from the only person who loves him, and sent to be educated at 'Home', where he is boarded out with strangers...What is the terrible secret that the children shared? What exactly happened at the farmhouse in the Lake District from which Filth is rescued by 'Sir' whose 'outfit' is one of the oddest schools in England? Old Filth is funny and heart-breaking at the same time. It is peopled with characters who astonish the reader - monsters, eccentrics, blessings in disguise. Jane Gardam has a unique understanding not only of the human heart but also of the bizarre workings of the minds of the elderly. A touch of surrealism combines with the subtle delicacy of a gifted novelist to make Old Filth a genuine masterpiece.

Jane Gardam is a novelist, writer of short stories and author of children's books. She also reviews for the Spectator and the Telegraph, and writes for BBC radio, where her current project is 6 programmes on the suburbs. She lives in Kent, Wimbledon and Yorkshire. She has won: The Heywood Hill Literary Prize for a Lifetime's Contribution to Literature; The Whitbread Fiction Award twice (for The Hollow Land and Queen of the Tambourine); Shortlisted for the Booker (God on the Rocks, which was also filmed for TV); Her other books include The Flight of the Maidens, Faith Fox, Going into a Dark House and Missing the Midnight. Her backlist is in print with Abacus

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780701177560
ISBN 10	070117756X
Title	Old Filth
Author	Jane Gardam
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Vintage Publishing
Year published	2004-11-04
Number of pages	272
Prizes	Short-listed for Orange Prize 2005
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.