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Confusion
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Elizabeth Jane Howard (1923-2014) wrote brilliant novels about what love can do to people, but in her own life the lasting relationship she sought so ardently always eluded her. She grew up yearning to be an actress, but when that ambition was thwarted by marriage and the war, she turned to fiction. Her first novel, The Beautiful Visit, won the John Llewellyn Rhys prize - she went on to write 14 more, of which the best-loved were the five volumes of The Cazalet Chronicle.
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The tangled lives of three generations evoke a vanished world in this, the first volume of the Cazalet Chronicle. Home Place, Sussex, 1937. The English family at home.... For two unforgettable summers they gathered together, safe from the advancing storm clouds of war. In the heart of the Sussex countryside these were still sunlit days of childish games, lavish family meals and picnics on the beach.
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Never judge a book by its summary.
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not a very good writer's best
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Born in Colombo, Judith Dunbar spends her teenage years at boarding school while her beloved mother and younger sister live abroad with her father. When her new friend, Loveday Carey-Lewis, invites Judith home for the weekend to Nancherrow, the Carey-Lewises' beautiful estate on the Cornish coast, it is love at first sight.
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A marathon treat
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The Cazalets
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- Narrated by: Penelope Wilton, Full Cast
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- Original Recording
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Performance
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Penelope Wilton narrates BBC Radio 4’s epic dramatisation of the treasured family saga Elizabeth Jane Howard’s five book chronicle of the upper-middle class. Cazalet family begins in 1938, as siblings Hugh, Edward, Rupert and Rachel join together for another family holiday at Home Place, their house in the Sussex countryside. During the course of The Light Years, Marking Time, Confusion, Casting Off and All Change, the progress of their lives, and those of their children, will be charted.
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Lose yourself in this epic family saga
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Post of Honour
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Nowhere in England avoids the loss of young men during the First World War and the village of Shallowford is no exception. Many never return and the lives of those who do are changed forever. Paul Craddock must rebuild the estate and the bonds broken between those who belong there. It is a time of huge social change and there are peacetime challenges as hard to surmount as those of war. And before they are met, Germany once again threatens the stability of Europe.
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A genuine, quaint story that keeps you listening
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Transcription
- By: Kate Atkinson
- Narrated by: Fenella Woolgar
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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In 1940, 18-year old Juliet Armstrong is reluctantly recruited into the world of espionage. Sent to an obscure department of MI5 tasked with monitoring the comings and goings of British Fascist sympathisers, she discovers the work to be by turns both tedious and terrifying. But after the war has ended, she presumes the events of those years have been relegated to the past for ever. Ten years later, now a producer at the BBC, Juliet is unexpectedly confronted by figures from her past. A different war is being fought now, on a different battleground, but Juliet finds herself once more under threat.
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Full Marks Kate
- By Amazon Customer on 09-09-18
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Marvellous
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As spring comes to Scotland and the hills burst into life, a dance is planned for September. The invitations summon home the group of people Violet Aird has cared for most in her long life. The oldest, strongest and wisest of them all, she sees Alexa, her vulnerable granddaughter, find love for the first time while the decision to send her little grandson away to school is driving parents Edmund and Virginia even further apart.
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Fabulous
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Summary
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- Alison
- 10-09-14
Addictive, Easy, Indulgent
I had never heard of this series until Audible, cleverly, kept suggesting it to me. I am now on this, the third book of the series and hopelessly addicted.
The characters are (almost) all frightfully posh, very privileged and insulated from 'real life' in so many ways. The war comes as a terrible shock, and yet, with their huge country house to escape to, plus many grand London homes and mansion flats, they cope.
The things I like are the rattling plot lines - though in this volume, I am getting very tired of the children so often leading the narration. It's OK to see life through the eyes of 10 year old Neville now and then, but not as much as this. Otherwise, the plot lines, of which there are dozens, really get along at a good pace.
I also like the way the characters are presented. I don't LIKE a good many of them, but that's not a problem. Also, and cleverly, they are allowed to develop and mature as the volumes progress.
I also like the narration. I see from reviews that whilst many agree, some do not, and I can see why. But this narrator, with a cut-glass style (thus, she struggles a bit with servants' voices, but it's not too bad) does really suit the utterly upper-middle class setting.
Sometimes I have been annoyed by bits of the story, but if I'm really honest, it's an effortless listen, a posh family soap. My next 2 credits are due today and I am going to get the last 2 volumes. Addiction. But I am going to force myself to listen to a gory murder or a history book first to refresh my palette!
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
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Overall
- Knucklebones
- 23-04-13
Disliked the narrator and the story
This is the 3rd of the unabridged 'Cazalet Chronicles' books read by Jill Balcon. I'd started to dislike her narration in book 2 ('Marking Time') but since I'd stupidly bought the whole 4-book set I ploughed on with it. The characters from this family saga who had interested me in book one ('The Light Years') were effectively sidelined in this book, as the focus moved almost exclusively to the 3rd generation of rather self-regarding young adults. Balcon's voice veers between deep and piping, depending on whether she's depicting adults or children, and unless I wore headphones I often missed what she said. I also found there weren't adequate pauses between different scenes - I thought I was listening to one group of people only to find that the story had moved on to somewhere entirely different. It shows how little variety there is in Balcon's reading for me not to spot the switch of location until several minutes had passed. I enjoyed neither the narration nor the story.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
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- g hart
- 07-07-18
Slightly disappointing ending
Slightly disappointing ending. I would have liked to read a few more paragraphs to bring everything together but extremely good nevertheless.
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- Kaat Vrancken
- Belgium
- 07-02-18
I can't wait to listen to part 4!
What a story! What a performance! Every time I drive my car, I live with the Cazalets. Love the characters, all of them.
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-11-17
Engrossing story set during WWII
Beautifully written and narrated. Excellent 3rd book in the series. Each character comes to life.
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- david dodson (purple triangle ltd)
- 09-11-16
Fantastic book
I have know completed all five books in this series. I hardly ever give five stars but these books totally deserve it.
I didn't want any of them to end. I feel like the characters are real people that I know. I can't put my finger on what makes them so brilliant unfortunately, as I wish I could write stories like these. I loved the innocence of the children and the time. I couldn't wait to go to bed to be able to listen to them. I completely and utterly lost myself in every one of the books. It's interesting as such things as morals and thoughts on life are as relevant hundred years of so ago as they are today.
I would totally recommend all five of these books. I cannot sing their praises enough.
The narration was absolutely fantastic with lots of different voices to have to change into. I did read that the narrator was a friend of the writer. Excellent work well done, I wish I spoke as beautifully as you do.
You must must listen to these books.
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- Gabrielle Harvey-Jones
- 07-11-16
Oddly compelling!
I have found myself strangely unable to stop listening to the beautifully written and superbly read slow unfolding of the complex lives of these beguiling characters. These appear to be made all the more complicated by the seeming inability of many of them to be straightforward with each other! Sadly, a lesson for me, when I look back at my own life!
I am guessing here, but I can't help wondering if the author would be rather pleased at this outcome!
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- Miss Librarian
- 25-08-15
Just as excellent as the first two
It ended on such a cliffhanger - an emotional one - that I will have to immediately listen to the next one!
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- Bob D
- Langham, Essex
- 23-06-15
Fascinating continuation of the Cazolet family
Thoroughly enjoyed this book, can't wait to start the next one in the series which I will be doing straight away. Narration excellent
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- pixie
- 03-10-14
Great book
If you could sum up Confusion in three words, what would they be?
Great family saga
What did you like best about this story?
everything, in this book the focus is on the younger members of the family.
What about Jill Balcon’s performance did you like?
Everything..Jill has a special style well suited to a family saga. Loved it.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No...best to listen in stages, you won't want to hurry this book, there is so much to take in, it is beautifully written
Any additional comments?
All the books in the "Saga" are lovely...a real treat to listen to, the characters are well drawn and the war years full of incidental detail....really enjoyed all of them.
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- Jane
- 10-06-16
Just so very good
The stunning 3rd volume of the series by this much under-appreciated writer packs a massive emotional punch. The understated artistry of the writing is the driving force here, and is marvellously served by a very fine narrator.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
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- Lynn S. Rozental
- 09-05-15
Wonderful
This is one of those books it is far better to listen to than to read. The narrator adds so much. Ms. Howard writes about children with so much understanding and yet also gets into the minds of the cook and the wonderful elderly governess and the stately yet broadminded matriarch. Fans of Downton Abbey will heartily enjoy this series.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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- Rosalind Britton
- 18-12-14
Takes Me Home
Would you listen to Confusion again? Why?
The reading is extraordinary. Jill Balcom is a fine actress; I watched her on the BBC when I was growing up in London. She manages to differentiate between characters with just slight inflections and changes to her voice. She gets the accents and intonations SO well.
Who was your favorite character and why?
I don't have a favorite character. They are all so finely drawn and developed from the first of the chronicles and grow up or age wonderfully.
What does Jill Balcon bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
I mentioned this attribute in the first section: her ability to give each character a personality. One gets to know the people by their voices.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
So much of the series reminds me of my growing up in London during the 50s, and from what my mother told me, of life during the war in England. So many of the things in the book, from food to specifically British things like Harrington squares (terry cloth outer diapers) bring back my childhood. Even the streets where they lived are in my neighborhood! And musicians are mentioned that I knew. Extraordinary.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful