Second in the Old Filth trilogy. "An astute, subtle depiction of
marriage . . . absolutely wonderful" (The Washington Post).
Acclaimed as Jane Gardam's masterpiece, Old Filth is a lyrical novel
that recalls the fully lived life of Sir Edward Feathers. The Man in
the Wooden Hat is the history of his marriage told from the perspective
of his wife, Betty, a character as vivid and enchanting as Filth
himself.
They met in Hong Kong after the war. Betty had spent the duration in a
Japanese internment camp. Filth was already a successful barrister,
handsome, fast becoming rich, in need of a wife but unaccustomed to
romance. A perfect English couple of the late 1940s.
As a portrait of a marriage, with all the bittersweet secrets and
surprising fulfillment of the fifty-year union of two remarkable people,
The Man in the Wooden Hat is a triumph. Fiction of a very high order
from a great novelist working at the pinnacle of her considerable power,
it will be read and loved and recommended by all the many thousands of
readers who found its predecessor, Old Filth, so compelling and
thoroughly satisfying.
"Funny and affecting . . . It's remarkable."--The New York Times Book
Review
"The latest occasion to celebrate Gardam . . . [a] superb
novel."--Maureen Corrigan, NPR
"Told with quintessentially British humor . . . Gardam's prose is witty
and precise."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"It's magnificent. . . . Funny, intelligent and immensely
moving."--Kirkus Reviews
