Wry, economical and perpetually surprising, these 14 stories from English novelist Gardam (Old Filth
) follow the last of the intrepid, stiff upper lip WWII generation of British ladies and gentlemen. In the title story, octogenarian widower Edward Feathers, “cold and old and going out to lunch with a woman called Dulcie he never much liked” arrives at Dulcie's Dorset house, where shared sensibilities go a long way in carrying them through some awkward moments. In “The Latter Days of Mr. Jones,” the aged titular protagonist, “the last of his tribe,” collides with contemporary mores when his daily solitary walks on the Common, frequented by children, arouse suspicions. Set in 1941, “The Flight Path” proves a creepy, hilarious sendup of familial relations when young medical student Jim Smith travels to London for a terrible, memorable night during the blitz. And “The Last Reunion” finds a group of four toughened elderly dames, once college chums, returning unsentimentally to their school on the occasion of its closing. Gardam vividly evokes an age of iron wills. (July)
