I'm on the home run with The Cazalet Chronicles ... but Book 4 Casting Off feels a bit like a series that is running out of steam.

The title is multi-layered:

• 'Casting off', as in casting off the ropes of a boat, leaving the shore behind for new horizons, so the characters cast off unwanted or now irrelevant ideas and mindsets. They cast off wartime clothing restrictions i.e. 'utility wear' for Dior's extravagant 'New Look'). They leave Home Place now denuded of the comforts of its large staff and they move to London, discovering both the drudgery of cooking and housework and the opportunity to meet new people and enjoy its cultural life. They cast off politicians such as the war-time hero Churchill for new horizons under Attlee's Labour government and a vision of a fairer society, exemplified by nationalising the coal mines and the National Health. They also cast off assorted spouses, leaving failed marriages through divorce while hoping for contentment in a new relationship or the chance to find a new love.


• 'Casting off' as in the technique used to finish a piece of knitting, which might — after hours of work — be a lovely piece of craftwork or it might not fit or it might be a jumbled mess (like Miss Milliment's attempts at gifts). The war is over, but peace is a jumbled mess and people can't just fit back into their old lives. There's still rationing and shortages and people who come back from the war are not the same. Polly, Clary and Louise, the young women who had yearned for the war to be over so that they could start their lives, find that the postwar years are not what they imagined. They were too young to take up the opportunity for wartime work (though there were working class girls of their age in the Land Army and doing factory work) but as the men come back, there's a growing paucity of jobs for women and those jobs are boring and badly paid. Characters also find that it isn't just those in the armed forces and witnesses to war crimes who were traumatised. Even distanced from direct experience of its horrors, civilians are traumatised by Nazi death camps and haunted by nuclear weapons. And there are some fates worse than death, such as Nora's husband Richard, a paraplegic who has no agency in his life at all and yearns to die.


To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2024/11/10/casting-off-1995-the-cazalet-chronicles-4-by...

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The war is over, and the Cazalets are returning to their London homes after spending the war years at Home Place, their house in the country. The eldest children have grown into young adults and are finding their way in both work and relationships. Their parents are facing loss and aging in various ways. Marriages tightly held together during the war are tested now, and each couple must navigate these turbulent waters.

Anyone reading this book is most likely already invested in the Cazalet family, with hopes for each character. Will the long-time philanderer get their comeuppance? Can a widowed person find happiness? Will the younger generation have more options than their parents, and travel a smoother path? Elizabeth Jane Howard explores all of this and more, bringing several long-running plot threads to a conclusion in ways that brought tears to my eyes. This series is a work of genius. ( )

So this volume we have 'the brothers' ie the fathers of the girls, and the outsiders: the in-laws and friends. The Cazalets are generally good at friendship, are welcoming and inclusive, but ultimately probably couldn't function completely without their support. And a few sections on 'the wives'. I'm deliberately not saying much about individuals as I don't want to spoil anyone's first reading.

I'm still loving the tone.

A thing that sticks out is the smoking of pipes. That has totally fallen by the wayside here, that and cigars. I haven't smelt pipe or cigar smoke since my 20s. Smoking generally here has dropped to 15%, although there are a lot of vaper's, which isn't as healthier an alternative as promoted! ( )

This is the fifth and final volume of the Cazalet Chronicles and I have finished all five. I love these books and wish that EJH was still alive so that I could write her a letter, and tell her how much I appreciate her humor, psychological astuteness, the world she brings to life (England 1937-1959), the company of her characters. I admit it all makes me hugely nostalgic for a world that wasn't even mine except by extension--many of the characters are contemporary to my parents and grandparents, though English. Still there are resonances.

And comforts: These are not edgy, post-modern literary efforts. Everyone calls everyone "darling" (not the movie star darling, the familial darling) and love is strong and steady, even though the extended family has its share of conflicts, betrayals, misfits, outsiders; people make life-long mistakes and suffer deep losses. Still in these days of Trump, Brexit, etc., there is something almost exalted in bringing to life a cast of characters finding their way through change at the mid-century. It makes clear, at least to me, how all our freedoms are also the loss of belonging and accepted ways, of being embedded in an intelligible society.

EJH is a fine writer. She is wonderful with dialogue, especially with her cast of children, and can be quite funny describing opinions, conflicts, stages along the way from childhood through adolescence that are entirely familiar to anyone who has had a child or been one. Even her adults get to grow--Howard is especially good at portraying growth and keeping the essential personality of her characters. She loves her lovers and tells their stories with such tenderness. There are several deaths that are conveyed piercingly, for both reader and character.

I know that much of the story and many of the characters are taken from EJH's life, so I guess she knows much of what she writes from intimate experience. I've just begun reading her biography.

I loved every page of every volume. ( )

As I grow more familiar with all Elizabeth Jane Howard's characters I care about them all more. I was gripped by this instalment of the series and very nearly missed my bus stop a few times. This obviously points to some wonderful writing and characterisation. I was so happy for both Clary and Polly when all came good for them, that it quite cheered my day. They are like old friends. What will happy to them all in the final book I wonder? ( )