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The Man in the Wooden Hat

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The Man in the Wooden Hat

By: Jane Gardam
Narrated by: Bill Wallace
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About this listen

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....

How Elisabeth turns into Betty and whether she remains loyal to stolid Filth or is swept up by caddish Veneering makes for a pause-resisting plot in a perfect novel which is full of surprises and revelations as well as the humour and eccentricities for which Jane Gardam's writing is famous.

©2009 Jane Gardam (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Contemporary Fiction Genre Fiction Fiction China
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What made the experience of listening to The Man in the Wooden Hat the most enjoyable?

The writer cleverly went back and told the same story but from a different character's perspective, it changed your mind about things you had concluded, so well done, have never read a book that has done this before

Who was your favorite character and why?

I love all 3 of the main characters

Which scene did you most enjoy?

The scene when Old Filth visits his arch rival after locking himself out, but to appreciate that you had to have listened to the first book

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Oh yes, Filth's enduring love for his wife, and hers for him

Any additional comments?

Love it thank you Jane Gardam and Bill Wallace. My God, Bill does a splendid job of acting this book, he played female parts so well I forgot I was listening to a man's voice.

Start with book one Old Filth

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Another wonderful Jane Gardam . This book fills in many of the details made intriguing in Old Filth. It is just as well written but we know the characters, although many are revealed to give us new opinions of them both more sympathetic and less so. Narrator is again splendid.

Old Filth sequel

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