{"product_id":"the-man-in-the-wooden-hat-jane-gardam-old-filth-2","title":"The Man In The Wooden Hat: Jane Gardam (Old filth, 2)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'It's a cliche to compare novelists to Jane Austen, but in the case of Jane Gardam it happens to be true. Her diamond-like prose, her understanding of the human heart, her formal inventiveness and her sense of what it is to be alive - young, old, lonely, in love - never fades' Amanda Craig\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e 'Her work, like Sylvia Townsend Warner's, has that appealing combination of elegance, erudition and flinty wit' Patrick Gale\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Filth (Failed In London, Try Hong Kong) is a successful lawyer when he marries Elisabeth in Hong Kong soon after the War. Reserved, immaculate and courteous, Filth finds it hard to demonstrate his emotions. But Elisabeth is different - a free spirit. She was brought up in the Japanese Internment Camps, which killed both her parents but left her with a lust for survival and an affinity with the Far East. No wonder she is attracted to Filth's hated rival at the Bar - the brash, forceful Veneering. Veneering has a Chinese wife and an adored son - and no difficulty whatsoever in demonstrating his emotions . . .\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e How Elisabeth turns into Betty and whether she remains loyal to stolid Filth or is swept up by caddish Veneering, makes for a page-turning plot in a perfect novel which is full of surprises and revelations, as well as the humour and eccentricites for which Jane Gardam's writing is famous.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"sb-details\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublished:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2014\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 273\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e Abacus\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9780349139487\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Gardam, Jane","offers":[{"title":"Very Good — £1.82","offer_id":47977600090289,"sku":"SB-0349139482-C2","price":1.82,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/sellbooks.co.uk\/products\/the-man-in-the-wooden-hat-jane-gardam-old-filth-2","provider":"Sell Books .co.uk","version":"1.0","type":"link"}