This is the second of the Old Filth trilogy, and though I’ve managed to read them in 1,3,2 order, the writing is so delicious and the characters so marvelously rendered, that it doesn’t matter.  It especially doesn’t matter because Gardam flits back and forth between Sir Edward Feathers, Terry Veneering, and now Elizabeth (Betty) MacIntosh Feathers so often that the temporality of the trilogy is a flexible and moving target.  This volume is told from the viewpoint of Betty, with Old Filth and Veneering as major supporting players.  Albert Ross, the Chinese orphan devoted to Old Filth, is a key character, and the book ends on his legacy.  One can’t help loving these outstanding English folks struggling with life and lives as the Empire winds down in Hong Kong and then at home in Dorset.  Curling up with a Gardam book is a fine goal for anytime, but especially in the winter.  I plan to reread the trilogy in the original order one day.