Gardam does not shy away from a bit of low humour: “He heard the comatose, under-employed Head of Chambers fart and yawn. The fart was an elderly fart — lengthy, unmusical and resigned.” Superbly observed, funny and also poignant: the unmusical fart is the soundtrack to old age. Gardam tells her story, which has real emotional depth, with a deceptive lightness of touch. The novel came about by chance when in 2002 Gardam, then 74, was asked by Richard Ingrams to write a short story for The Oldie.
