Elizabeth Jane Howard (1923–2014)

Our unnamed narrator is a young woman coming of age around the time of the first world war. She despises her family's shabby gentility, and her world opens up when she is invited to spend the Christmas holidays at the country home of some distant relatives. Many of the people she meets there are important characters in her future adventures.

I was unaware when I randomly picked this book that it was Howard's first, so perhaps I should cut it some slack as an initial effort. It's very episodic, with lots of ends left dangling. I found the ending confusing, but that may be because I had sort of disengaged with it by that point. (Is she going on an expedition to prove that the world is flat?) I also didn't really like the heroine. In Howard's Cazalet chronicles, there were many characters I disliked, or that I started out disliking but grew to like, or vice versa, but I was always interested in what happened to them. The singular focus on this one never-very-sympathetic character didn't help keep me engaged in the story, but looking back, I can see the beginnings of Howard's genius for writing complex and believable characters here. Still, I'd probably only recommend it for Howard completists.… (more)

Follows the members of the extended Cazalet family and their household staff over two pre-WWII summers.

A deliciously character-centric story. There is not a great deal of plot, beyond the typical "family saga" -- babies are conceived and born, affairs are had, emotions are felt and concealed, all with the shadow of war hovering overhead. I liked the plot points featuring the younger generation best. The book shifts from character to character, so it can be a little tricky to know which perspective one is in at ay given time. Readers who don't enjoy this sort of perspective-hopping may find this a frustrating read, but I enjoyed it immensely.… (more)