Last Friends is the last book in Jane Gardam's Hong Kong trilogy. It was published in 2013 when she was 85 years old. Gardam has an extraordinary touch for creating eccentric characters without letting them tilt into caricature. Old Filth was the popular first book. It is the story of Edward Feathers, who became a giant in international construction law, overcoming a bizarre childhood that I will not try to describe. Filth is an acronym for "Failed in London Try Hong Kong." His wife Betty is developed in The Wooden Hat, as is her love for Feather's rival lawyer, Terry Venering. She is a not particularly attractive woman who creates great passion in men. At this point the reader knows little of Venering other than that he is a brash, handsome, successful lawyer. His very humble roots & strange journey to Hong Kong are revealed in Last Friends. Much of this book is from the viewpoint of an elderly friend of the three main characters, who has left Hong Kong and is living in rural England. She is living in the same small village in which the two foes somehow retired. Memory and its unreliable flashes are part of the tale here. There are many very original characters who orbit the three key ones throughout the trilogy. They are often delightful.
