Last friends the final volume of this trilogy picks up with terence veneering filths great rival in work and though it was never spoken of in love veneerings were not the usual beginnings of an establishment silk the son of a russian acrobat marooned in northeast england and a devoted local girl he escapes the war to emerge in the far east as a man of panache success and fame. Last friends is the third and concluding novel in the highly praised trilogy that began with old filth and continued with the man in the wooden hat the haunting first novel was the story of a decades long marriage that stretched from the immediate post world war ii period into the opening of the twenty first century. Last friends the final volume of this trilogy picks up with terence veneering filths great rival in work and though it was never spoken of in love veneerings were not the usual beginnings of an establishment silk the son of a russian acrobat marooned in northeast england and a devoted local girl he escapes the war to emerge in the far east as a man of panache success and fame. Last friends from the orange prize shortlisted author old filth trilogy 3 jane gardams first novel was published in 1971 and her introduction to the old filth trilogy in this reprint is from 2013 when she was already 83 the trilogy is an astonishing achievement for later life published when she was at least 75 and drawing on the depths of experience of lives lived the nearest . Edward feathers old filth is trying to move on after his wife betty has died he decides to go on a journey to see an old friend and in due course we meet many people from his past and find out how their lives have intertwined and been effected by each other her ability to move between the past and the present in such a seamless way never ceases to amaze me her sly humour witty observations and brilliant characterisation make this book every bit as as enjoyable as the others