"this joyous and challenging writer"
June 12, 2025 4:37 AM Subscribe
The novelist, short story writer and children's writer Jane Gardam died in April, aged 96. There is an obituary in The Guardian. The Los Angeles Review of Books thinks her novels are "a taxonomy of ordinary madness ... [with] a deceptively cheerful, spritzy rhythm". The Independent interviewed her in 2015, when she said "Short stories are nearer poetry than anything. They are like a conversation, a dialogue". The Captive Reader has written about several of her books. Reading Matters has reviewed The Old Filth Trilogy There is an interview with her on YouTube (one hour, transcript) from the Small Wonder short story literary festival in 2015.
I had no idea she was so old! Although I suppose that the Old Filth books, which focus on elderly characters, might have tipped me off. What a long and impressive career.
I read Flight of the Maidens and Old Filth. Old Filth has really stayed with me, although it was too sad to reread.
posted by Frowner at 5:50 AM on June 12 [1 favorite]
I read Flight of the Maidens and Old Filth. Old Filth has really stayed with me, although it was too sad to reread.
posted by Frowner at 5:50 AM on June 12 [1 favorite]
Gardam, ungated
sorry, that doesn't capture the whole article. my bad
posted by chavenet at 6:09 AM on June 12
sorry, that doesn't capture the whole article. my bad
posted by chavenet at 6:09 AM on June 12
I can't believe I missed news of her death in April. She is one of my personal greats, and I've been allowing myself to read one of her books a year just to stave off the day when I will have no more new Jane Gardam to sink into.
Old Filth, The Man in the Wooden Hat, and Last Friends are continual astonishments to me. I've re-read the trilogy maybe 4 times through, and many more times in part. I love these characters like they are people in my family. But I also re-read because I cannot figure out how Jane Gardam packs so much feeling and incident and context and implication into her prose. And somehow it still reads spare, not flowery or embellished. I marvel.
Bilgewater made me cackle and and The Sidmouth Letters was a deeply satisfying balm during the pandemic. Mos recently, I found The Flight of the Maidens sneakily devastating.
Thanks for the post, paduasoy. And thank you from the bottom of my heart, Jane.
posted by minervous at 6:53 AM on June 12 [3 favorites]
Old Filth, The Man in the Wooden Hat, and Last Friends are continual astonishments to me. I've re-read the trilogy maybe 4 times through, and many more times in part. I love these characters like they are people in my family. But I also re-read because I cannot figure out how Jane Gardam packs so much feeling and incident and context and implication into her prose. And somehow it still reads spare, not flowery or embellished. I marvel.
Bilgewater made me cackle and and The Sidmouth Letters was a deeply satisfying balm during the pandemic. Mos recently, I found The Flight of the Maidens sneakily devastating.
Thanks for the post, paduasoy. And thank you from the bottom of my heart, Jane.
posted by minervous at 6:53 AM on June 12 [3 favorites]
I found her through A Long Way from Verona. She has an unforgettable voice. There's a good review of Verona at Book Fossils.
posted by paduasoy at 12:56 PM on June 12 [2 favorites]
posted by paduasoy at 12:56 PM on June 12 [2 favorites]
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posted by paduasoy at 4:40 AM on June 12