Confusion by Elizabeth Jane Howard

Set at the height of the Second World War, as chaos has become a way of life for the Cazalet family, The Cazalet Chronicles continues with the third in the series, Confusion.

‘They could be like telegrams, or the most significant lines of a poem – so crammed with a fragment of truth that for a moment they seemed to illuminate the whole of it.’

1942. The dark days of war seem never-ending. Scattered across the still-peaceful Sussex countryside and air-raid-threatened London, the divided Cazalets begin to find the battle for survival echoing the confusion in their own lives.

Headstrong, independent Louise surprises the whole family with her shifting priorities in love and life. Her cousins Polly and Clary, now in their late teens, finally fulfil their ambition of living together in London, but the reality of the city is not quite what they imagined.

Polly is struggling to come to terms with an unfathomable loss, while Clary, meanwhile, is the only member of the family who refuses to give up on the possibility of a reunion with a loved one.

Confusion is followed by the fourth book in the series, Casting Off.

‘This chronicle will be read, like Trollope, as a classic about life in England in our century’ – Sybille Bedford, author of A Legacy