The Cazalets

ppback thanks for the tip, although I never buy hard back but find that in Germany ( where I live) the paperback edition can be bought earlier, still it will be a while. Margaret Drabble - my name sake was born in Sheffield like me and a lot of what she liked - or hated about the North I can understand very well indeed. We are the same age and her books have followed me. I remember when I had teenagers at home, her novel 'The Middle Ground' opened a window for me and helped me cope with my children and retain my self respect!
I think it is a scandal that she has never won the 'Booker Prize' I would give her the Nobel Prize for her life's work.

There is an interesting interview with EJH in today's Guardian, but I can't find it in the online version to link yet.
Hasn't anyone else finished the new volume yet? It has been out since Thursday and I want to discuss it.....

We're in good company - saw a snap of dear Camilla Duchess of Cornwall
reading Casting Off.

By the way, no sarcasm intended - I mean that she is a good sort. He's a lucky chap to have her.

Can someone please define for me the family tree - I'm reading on my Kindle and keep getting mixed up with all the names.

There is a family tree at the beginning of the Kindle book. If you "go to" it from the menu, you can get back to where you were with the back button.

I read here that there was another book belonging to the Cazalets. It can't be'Casting Off' because that was published in 1995. Is there another one? The fifth one?

Sorry Mamie I've just read your opening thread, there is a fifth one but do you know its name yet?

It is called All Change and is set in the fifties. I think it lacks the dramatic tension of the war as the background, but don't want to spoil it for others.

Wow Mamie I'm in awe of you finishing the book already! I'm such a slow reader. I started the Penelope Fitzgerald biography delivered the same day first so will start All Change when I've finished.
The other Cazalet books I have are The Light years, Marking Time, Confusion and Casting Off.
I first found Margaret Drabble through her short stories MargaretX but I have never read The Middle Ground. It sounds very much my cup of tea so I'll have a search for this.
Thank you Mamie I'm off to search for The Guardian article if I'm able.
Hi specki I still get confused with the Cazalet family tree. In one book I had some crib notes on the back of my bookmark.
I often think of getting a Kindle, this book is large, 570 something pages long so not very portable. I just need a little push as I love the feel of a book in my hands.
Happy reading.

Here's the Guardian link,
www.theguardian.com/books/2013/nov/09/elizabeth-jane-howard-interview

Another article on Elizabeth Jane Howard from today's Telegraph,
www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/authorinterviews/10431293/Elizabeth-Jane-Howard-the-novelist-at-90.html

Thank you PPB, that is a lovely article and picture. She has got the same Penguin mugs as us!
How wonderful to be in the same Women's Group for thirty years.
I am so glad she was able to be a good grandmother too, the story of her relationship with Nicola was so sad at the beginning.
The list of lovers is very impressive; a literary canon all on its own!

Mind you, you would need a good Women's Group if you had been married to Kingsley Amis. What a sexist prat. I had to stop reading his biography, I got so angry.

Thank you for that ppb. I enjoyed reading about her life. I wonder what she was really wanting from all those lovers and how she put up with Kingsley Amis for 20 years! You can see how she milks her own experience for her novels.

All Change is now on my Amazon wish list. I mustn't buy any more books until I've worked my way through about five hardbacks.

I have always thought, Anno that she was looking for the love that she didn't get from her mother, mixed up with the (what we would probably now call) sexual abuse from her father. I think it comes through quite clearly in Slipstream.

Yes, I could not put vol 5 down. A few teeny criticisms but on the whole I loved it. Grim endings to some lives . I cant think of anyone that captures the speech of children so well. Not really concluded; left open for another volume but then life does not have tidy endings. Would like to discuss it with you, Mamie.

I thought there were a few annoying continuity errors; it was Will who had a twin that died not Simon, Juliet's eyes were blue etc etc
I thought the Neville / Juliet and the Archie / Clary / art student episodes did not ring true at all.
I thought the first half was too episodic without much plot, but the second half, as the business collapsed, was better.
I loved reading it though!

all those things, Mamie but also the attitude of her mother to sex you wont enjoy it but just do it. This comes out a few times in the Cazalets. I add to this a question Why were all the men such bad lovers with never a thought of awakening the girl or even thinking that it was needed. ? I believe she got as far as Laurie Lee as a lover before she began to enjoy sex.

I was moved by the Sid/Rachel story which developed much more in vol 5. It was awful that Rachel was the carer but not provided for unlike the wives BUT Rachel had been given the house in London to keep/sell by the Duchy. Another lack of continuity. I noticed lots but I read it fast well into the night and cant remember them all. I think that I could happily go back and read all 5 and Slipstream again more slowly. I felt that Simons's affair with Roy was bolted on and also Teddy and the bar maid. Agree with you on Neville/Juliet and Archie/art student parts. Why did not the publisher's reader spot more continuity errors?

lamb Because men were like that in the 40s and 50s. They didn't know anything about women's bodies, nor much about their own. Women didn't know anything about their own bodies either but administering Tampax was huge learning curve for them.
I shall definitely read All Change but only in paperback. Hard backs take up too much room and are too heavy in bed.
penguinpthanks for the article. I now wonder how good this last book will be. Whether she can do it at 90.

Yes I agree about the Simon / Teddy stories. There was a bit of a feeling of now what can I do with them? The Mumsnet discussion thought that Polly was very one dimensional in this book. I also thought she was a bit vague about family relationships , I didn't think Rupert seemed to know that Clary's children were his grandchildren.... I liked the way Zoe had developed though.