A review by annegreen
Marking Time by Elizabeth Jane Howard

4.0

I enjoyed this sequel to "The Light Years" and second book in the five novel Cazalet Chronicles. It was as engaging and absorbing as the first, portraying the same cast of characters over the two year period 1939 to 1941, at the beginning of the Second World War. Several of the characters are given a more in-depth treatment which helped to cement their significance in the story. Apart from anything else, the book is a fascinating social commentary of an upper middle class family living in a time of war, which despite their relatively privileged status, affected them all in one way or another. It's also an enlightening picture of family life, relationships, marriage, parenthood and most strikingly the role of women at the time. Howard has a unique skill in writing in the voice of children which is always utterly convincing.