'gardam writes about love, death, loneliness, money and madness with gentle ferocity. the old filth trilogy should be read by anyone who has ever been interested in how we become who we are' amanda craig, independent on sunday 'sharp, humane, generous and wonderfully funny, she is one of our very finest writers' hilary mantel 'this humorous, melancholic final volume establishes the trilogy as a modern classic' kate saunders, the times old filth and the man in the wooden hat told with bristling tenderness and black humour the stories of that titan of the hong kong law courts, old filth qc, and his clever, misunderstood wife betty. last friends, the final volume of this trilogy, picks up with terence veneering, filth's great rival in work and -though it was never spoken of - in love. veneering, filth and their friends tell a tale of love, friendship, grace, the bittersweet experiences of a now-forgotten empire and the disappointments and consolations of age.