FILTH = Failed in London, Try Hong Kong
Old Filth is actually quite respectable and not at all filthy.
Book opens with 80 year-old Old Filth (Edward Feathers) back in England. He was a lawyer, then judge, in Hong Kong. Wife is dead; no children. He lives in a semi-remote area in Dorset, England, so it is amazing when, Terry Veneering, an old enemy from Hong Kong moves next door. The two do not speak for years.
Filth, in a snowstorm, locks himself out of his home and finds himself obliged to go to Veneering for help. Surprisingly to both, they hit it off and arrange to meet again.
Kotakinakulu Edward as boy. Mother dies in childbirth. Remote father turns him over to Malays to be raised. Abruptly wrenched from Malayasia and returned to England at 4 1/2. At 8, a stammerer, he is off to prep school in Wales. "Sir," his teacher, is all life and good spirits. A modern teacher; learning as pleasure. He meets Ingoldby.
The Donheads
Another flashback, but to a more recent time. Edward and his wife Betty are going to London (a dreaded place) to sign their new wills. As Betty waits for Edward to come downstairs, she receives a phone call from Hong Kong. It's Veneering, whom Edward detests. He is calling Betty--clearly the two were lovers without Edward every remotely suspecting. Veneering tells Betty that his son Harry is dead.
Edward's father: "He turned away from the women's beauty to the beauty of the whisky in the glass."
"All his life he kept a regard for Chinese values: the courtesy, the sudden thrust, the holiness of hospitality, the pleasure in money, the decorum, the importance of food, the discretion, the cleverness."
With Ingoldsy Family adopts him, more or less. Kind to him, but worried about their own son who is bright and moody. More at ease with Eddie Feathers.
cheongsam--close fitting silk dress
louche--disreputable in a rakish or appealing way.
Chance meetings: Schoolmaster introduces boys--"Ingoldby--Feathers," introduced Sir, shaping the future."
Old Filth is actually quite respectable and not at all filthy.
Book opens with 80 year-old Old Filth (Edward Feathers) back in England. He was a lawyer, then judge, in Hong Kong. Wife is dead; no children. He lives in a semi-remote area in Dorset, England, so it is amazing when, Terry Veneering, an old enemy from Hong Kong moves next door. The two do not speak for years.
Filth, in a snowstorm, locks himself out of his home and finds himself obliged to go to Veneering for help. Surprisingly to both, they hit it off and arrange to meet again.
Kotakinakulu Edward as boy. Mother dies in childbirth. Remote father turns him over to Malays to be raised. Abruptly wrenched from Malayasia and returned to England at 4 1/2. At 8, a stammerer, he is off to prep school in Wales. "Sir," his teacher, is all life and good spirits. A modern teacher; learning as pleasure. He meets Ingoldby.
The Donheads
Another flashback, but to a more recent time. Edward and his wife Betty are going to London (a dreaded place) to sign their new wills. As Betty waits for Edward to come downstairs, she receives a phone call from Hong Kong. It's Veneering, whom Edward detests. He is calling Betty--clearly the two were lovers without Edward every remotely suspecting. Veneering tells Betty that his son Harry is dead.
Edward's father: "He turned away from the women's beauty to the beauty of the whisky in the glass."
"All his life he kept a regard for Chinese values: the courtesy, the sudden thrust, the holiness of hospitality, the pleasure in money, the decorum, the importance of food, the discretion, the cleverness."
With Ingoldsy Family adopts him, more or less. Kind to him, but worried about their own son who is bright and moody. More at ease with Eddie Feathers.
cheongsam--close fitting silk dress
louche--disreputable in a rakish or appealing way.
Chance meetings: Schoolmaster introduces boys--"Ingoldby--Feathers," introduced Sir, shaping the future."
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