In 1942, the Cazalet family mourns one of their own, an emotional event in no way lessened by foreshadowing in the previous book. And of course the war continues to shape their lives as well. The story unfolds over the next three years mostly through the eyes of Louise, Polly, and Clary, the eldest child of each family, as they become young adults and hope to find their purpose. Their parents have their own issues, from marital infidelities at home to uncertainty about those at the front. As England celebrates VE Day, Elizabeth Jane Howard continues spinning a long story arc. While some threads are neatly tied up in this novel, some remain unresolved and new plot developments have whet my appetite for the next book. ( )

The second half of WWII and the daughters are in or almost in their 20s, the family stories continue to be seen primarily through their eyes, as their experience and observation skills begin to expand, while still being hampered sometimes by what they don't know, but also by their own need sometimes to hold their own secrets. ( )

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/confusion-by-elizabeth-jane-howard/

Third in Elizabeth Jane Howard’s brilliant family saga of the Cazalets, set during the Second World War, with the young and middle-aged women who are the central characters falling in love and having plenty of (off-stage) sex, not always with the right people or the same people. I almost feel that we had 900 pages of set-up in the first two volumes, which then explodes into lots and lots of plot here, which is maybe a little unfair as the first two were hardly without incident. Howard’s own gruesome first marriage (to Peter Scott) is unsparingly mined for material, with two particularly memorable passages involving very small babies.

Along with the turbulent love lives of the various viewpoint figures, there are some gems of observation about women’s roles in the society of 1940s England, and a quietly devastating subplot about the Holocaust and the uncovering of the concentration camps. Howard is tremendous at showing a society on the verge of tremendous change – mostly of course from the viewpoint of the privileged, but you write about what you know. And again there is an unlooked-for twist at the end which has my appetite whetted for the fourth volume.

This is not a fast-paced series, but I’m hugely enjoying it. ( )

This is the second time reading the Cazalet Chronicles and I love them even more. So engaging, so beautifully realized, a world to be lost in. ( )

Love this series. Wonderful characters, beautifully written. I'm going straight on to the next one. ( )