Edward Feathers (Old Filth, ‘failed in London, tried Hong Kong’), Terence Vaneering, Fred Fiscal-Smith, Dulcie, Betsy (Elizabeth McIntosh), and Willy all reappear in this superbly told tale of England from the 1930’s to the present, an England that while changing radically remains locked in its class history and foibles.  What spectacular characters these are, engaging in wonderfully eccentric adventures (Fred’s model railroads, Dulcie’s St. Ague’s church) and with incredibly believable and weird families.  This book begins shortly after Veneering’s funeral and in the midst of Old Filth’s funeral and is primarily a series of flashbacks telling the story of Veneering, a boy born into poverty in the North to a 16 year old uneducated girl and a Cossack acrobat in town with the circus.  Venetski, as he was born, meets Parable-Apse, a seriously loony lawyer living in a hut by the coast, and the rest of this tale unfolds magically (he also avoids going down on a torpedoed cruise line ship taking children to Canada, marries a Chinese woman in Hong Kong and has a son who dies in Northern Ireland’s troubles, continuously intersects with Old Filth, and ends up his neighbor in Donheads in Dorset).  All told, this is a wonderful book in a wonderful series.  A great story-teller, describer of people, and weaver of lives.