Product Description

This is the third novel in a four-volume saga. The book takes up the story of the Cazalet family in the spring of 1942, and follows them through the war to VE day, 8th May 1945. Polly and Clary have left Home Place for London, Louise has married, and Archie and Polly fall in love.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #721665 in Books
• Published on: 1996-11-22
• Format: Audiobook
• Number of items: 4
• Binding: Audio Cassette

Customer Reviews

Wartime saga
This is the third volume in the Cazalet Chronicles and it is just as enthralling as the first two. I listened to the first two books on audio (read by Jill Balcon, a magnificent reading), but I just couldn't wait to find out what happened next, so I've just devoured Confusion, and I'm about to start Casting off, the final volume. The Cazalets are a middle-class family during WWII. They are based at Home Place in Sussex, but as the children grow older, and the war intrudes on their lives, the focus of the series has widened. Elizabeth Jane Howard's great gift is to make the reader care about all the characters. The book is divided into sections focussing on one character at a time, and I would become so involved in that character's life that it was often hard to move on to the next section. After half a page, I was just as involved in the next section! The development of the characters is excellent. Zoe, who begins as a beautiful, spoilt girl with no thoughts beyond her own beauty and her own pleasure, has become a much more complex character by the end of the third book. The girls, Louise, Clary and Polly have grown up so convincingly. Rachel, the unmarried dutiful daughter is perfect. Maybe the most interesting character is Archie Lestrange, who becomes a friend and confidant to the whole family. His role as a man who is "practically one of the family" yet also an outsider is fascinating. I can't wait to read the final volume and see what happens to these people who have become so real to me.

Spellbinding story-telling
This book, the third in 'The Cazalet Chronicle' series, is just as spellbinding as the previous two volumes of this family saga. The Cazalets and their friends, family and servants have by now become like friends to me and the standard of Howard's story-telling shows no sign of waning. I can't wait to start the fourth book. If you enjoy The Cazalet series, I also recommend you read Rosamund Pilcher's 'Coming Home'.