Marking Time (Cazalet Chronicle, Vol 2) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "SOMEONE HAD TURNED off the wireless and, in spite of the room being full of people, there was a complete silencein which Polly could feel,..." (more)
Key Phrases: Miss Milliment, Aunt Villy, Aunt Rach (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Readers of The Light Years , Howard's earlier novel about the numerous members of the upper-class Cazalet family, their servants, friends and relatives, will find satisfaction in this well-written sequel. In the summer of 1939, Britain has entered WW II, and the nine young Cazalet cousins are gathered for the duration under the rural Sussex roof of their grandparents, the indomitable Brig and his wife, Duchy. The appealing characters engage in a series of interrelated plots and subplots, and each family unit acts out a personal drama against the ever-present backdrop of the war. The children, especially the three older girls (from whose viewpoints much of the narrative is told), are particularly well defined; they are perceptive, funny and brave as they mark time toward adulthood, a state they long to achieve despite the obvious unhappiness and uncertainties of the adults around them. Momentous events may be occurring on a worldwide scale, but the Cazalets cling valiantly to a rigid daily routine and a stiff-upper-lip mentality. Whether describing the backbreaking labor required to run a large house during the war years or examining the feelings of a young girl's growing awareness of her father's infidelities, Howard captures the moment with penetrating accuracy. Perhaps the book has too many minor themes and characters, but the reader of multi-generational sagas will come away with a real knowledge of a particular time and place, and a desire to know what lies ahead for the Cazalets.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

As this second volume of the "Cazalet Chronicle" (after The Light Years , LJ 8/1/90) opens in September 1939, the Cazalet family prepares for war. Three Cazalet cousins--Louise, Polly, and Clary--are so eager to shed the trappings of childhood that they view the war from a different perspective than their more experienced parents. Howard successfully presents these differing images in an atmosphere steeped in period detail, keeping the central focus on the young girls' frustrations and disappointments. Her saga offers an engrossing look at a unique period of history as experienced by a "typical" English middle-class family whose shared adventures are engaging, sometimes heroic, and always authentic. Recommended.
- Lydia Burruel Johnson, Mesa P.L., Ariz.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Washington Square Press (July 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671527940
• ISBN-13: 978-0671527945
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #116,423 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A British family during the Blitz, June 14, 2001

By	Joseph H Pierre "Joe Pierre" (Salem, OR USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This is the second book of a four-book series about the relatively wealthy family Cazalet, a large British family in World War II England. The family consists of William and his wife Kitty, their four children, their spouses and grandchildren, as well as the servants and close friends and relations. He is always referred to as "The Brig" and she as "Duchy," short for the Brigadier and the Duchess although he has never been in military service, nor is his wife truly a duchess. Their children consist of three boys, all married, two of whom went to war (officers, of course) in the First World War. The daughter is unmarried and in love with another woman, but there is no lesbian sexual relationship.

The interplay of relationships, the sometimes-Victorian moirés and values, the amenities they enjoy compared to the lower, servant class, their views of world politics, war, education and marital and extra-marital sex are not only entertaining, but also instructive--for the author is obviously personally familiar with the environment and people she portrays. Howard was born in London and lives in Suffolk.

The first book, The Light Years, begins in 1937, in pre-war England. The Brig is head of a successful lumber company dealing in exotic hardwoods, and has brought his two WW1 veteran sons, Hugh (who lost an arm in the conflict) and handsome Edward (who is a sex-oriented rake who cheats on his wife and fondles his daughter) into the firm. His other son, Rupert is a schoolteacher and painter who lost a wife in childbirth and replaced her with a 23-year-old selfish airhead beauty whom his children detest. Eventually, Rupert also joins the firm. Each of the sons have children. Each summer they all go to the country and live together with the boys' parents, together with their servants and friends, including Rachel, the maiden sister who lives with their parents the year-'round, and her female "friend," half Jewish Sid, who would like their relationship to be more physical--but Rachel is repelled by any form of physical intimacy.

In this, the second book, the dreaded war finally strikes Britain and the family, and this is the story of their individual reactions to the changed situation. The book does not dwell on the military aspects, but rather on the home front, and the reactions of those who are left behind as the men go to their wartime duties. Again, the emphasis is primarily on the children's stories, and their attempts to grow up in a world turned topsy-turvy.

As with the first, the book is extremely well-written. The author has several other books, plays and movie scripts to her credit and her skill is not only obvious but well-earned. I am looking forward to reading the other two books in this series. At this writing, I have ordered the third, The Confusion, but am told that the last book in the series, Casting Off, is out-of-print, so I have ordered it from Amazon's used book service. We'll see how long it takes.

Joseph H. Pierre
Author of The Road to Damascus: Our Journey Through Eternity

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Memorable Characters Make This A Wonderful Novel, May 2, 2001

By	Antoinette Klein (Hoover, Alabama USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The engrossing tale of the Cazalet family begun in "The Light Years" continues in this equally irresistible second volume of the series. War has broken out in Europe, Hitler has marched into Poland, and the extended family all gathers at the home in Sussex safe from the nightly air raids in London.

This second volume, while encompassing the entire family and its related branches, focuses primarily on Louise, Polly, and Clary---three young girls growing into womanhood in a time when everything is frozen, in a time that Polly describes as "the present seemed gray; the future black."

Although they may only be "marking time" and waiting for peacetime to let their lives resume, the normal course of daily events makes this a poignant novel to curl up with. One brother is missing in action and presumed dead, one brother faces the possibility of losing his wife to a terminal illness, one brother persists in his extra-marital dalliances and sexual abuse of his own daughter, and the sister continues her clandestine love affair. Babies are born, alliances are formed, and love looms on the horizon. Into this family comes a virtual stranger, Archie Lestrange, a longago friend of Rupert and Isobel's. His kindness, level-headedness, and good nature bring hope to the Cazalets and dreams of love to one of them.

At the close of the book, Japan bombs Pearl Harbor and everyone settles in for a long and bitter war. Prepare yourself for a cliffhanger on the final page that will have you scurrying to order Volume 3 "Confusion."

3.0 out of 5 stars It's missing something, June 3, 2009

By	Ann Marie (Mid-Michigan) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: MARKING TIME (The Cazalet Chronicle, Vol. 2) (Hardcover)

This could have been a really great story. Somehow the writing just could'nt take me there. I have never read a book where the word "boring" was so overused. So thats just it "boring"!