Something in Disguise

by Elizabeth Jane Howard

An unforgettable novel about love, family, life, and death in 1960s England   Col. Herbert Brown-Lacy’s daughter, Alice, is getting married—more to escape her father than anything else. Though in truth Alice’s stepmother May has been nicer than her previous stepmother—and even her own mother. But May’s grown children, Oliver and Elizabeth, are certain their mother made a terrible mistake in her marriage to the dull-as-dishwater Herbert. May clearly didn’t marry him for his money or intellectual prowess—and at her age sex appeal was out of the question—so why did she marry him? That’s something May, whose first marriage ended in tragedy when her husband, Clifford, was killed during the war, is starting to wonder herself. Maybe she’s a woman who needs to be married.   With Oliver and Elizabeth in London discovering life on their own terms, Alice is also questioning her impulsive marriage to Leslie Mount. As crisis draws the disparate members of this patchwork family together—and apart—from the English countryside to the Cote d'Azur to Jamaica, a shocking occurrence will shatter lives.   From the bestselling author of the Cazalet Chronicles, Something in Disguise is a story about familial love, married love, love at first sight, and love that isn’t love at all.  

Genres: Fiction, British Literature, Historical Fiction, Audiobook, 20th Century, Literary Fiction, Classics

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Elizabeth Jane Howard, CBE, was an English novelist. She was an actress and a model before becoming a novelist. In 1951, she won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for her first novel, The Beautiful Visit. Six further novels followed, before she embarked on her best known work, a four novel family saga (i.e., The Cazalet Chronicles) set in wartime Britain. The Light Years, Marking Time, Confusion, and Casting Off were serialised by Cinema Verity for BBC television as The Cazalets (The Light Years, Marking Time, Confusion and Casting Off). She has also written a book of short stories, Mr Wrong, and edited two anthologies.

Her last novel in The Cazalet Chronicles series, "ALL CHANGE", was published in November 2013.

Reviews

[JacquiWine · Rating 5 out of 5]

(4.5 Stars)

A couple of months ago, the Backlisted team covered Elizabeth Jane Howard’s 1969 novel Something in Disguise for their Halloween episode of the podcast. It’s a book I had read before, with somewhat mixed feelings; however, Andrew and Laura’s impassioned case for it being a rather sly, perceptive novel about the horrors of domestic life prompted me to revisit it with a fresh pair of eyes. Naturally, they were right! (How could they not be?) On my second reading, I found it much more chilling from the start, partly because I already knew just how painfully the story would play out for some of the key characters involved…

So in this post, I’m jotting down a few things that particularly struck me on this second reading – largely for my own benefit, but some of you might find it interesting too.


As the Backlisted discussion touches on, the novel’s title has multiple meanings. Not only are certain individuals in the story concealing things from those closest to them, but the novel itself is also ‘something in disguise’. In essence, this is a domestic horror story masquerading under the cover of a family drama/whirlwind romance, complete with a breezy ‘women’s fiction’ style jacket to misdirect the reader; and while I’d picked up some of this domestic horror (particularly Alice’s miserable marriage to the insensitive, overbearing Leslie) on my first reading, I’d missed some of the early warning signs about Herbert’s true intensions. More on these red flags a little later in the post.

In my previous write-up of the novel, I’d noted the following points about the family’s matriarch, May, whose first husband had been killed many years earlier in the Second World War. “May is now married to Colonel Herbert Browne-Lacey, a pompous, penny-pinching bore who spends most of his spare time in London, dining at his club and visiting a ‘lady friend’ for sexual favours. Meanwhile, May must amuse herself at home, a rather staid old house in Surrey which she finds both cold and unwelcoming.”

May and Herbert’s Surrey house is almost a character in its own right, such is EJH’s talent for describing settings, furnishings and rooms. Herbert appears to have pushed May into buying it with the proceeds of an inheritance, somewhat against her better judgement. It’s a terrifying place – cold, dark and oppressive, the type of dwelling that wouldn’t feel out of place in a Shirley Jackson short story.

The floors of the wide, dark passages were polished oak, which, as Herbert had pointed out, obviated the need for carpets. The staircase was also oak – no carpet there, either, which made it slippery and a nightmare to negotiate with heavy trays. The hall, with its huge, heavily-leaded window – too large to curtain – was somehow always freezing, even in summer, and dark, too, because here the oak had crept up the walls to a height of about nine feet, making any ordinary furniture and look ridiculous. There was also a tremendous stone fireplace in which one could have roasted an ox; and, as Oliver had pointed out, nothing less would have done either to warm the place or to defeat the joyless odour of furniture polish. ‘It really is a monstrous house,’ she thought… (p. 83)

To read the rest of my piece, please visit:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2022...

[Claire Fuller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely to fall into EJH's writing again - like getting into a warm bath.

Elizabeth (it seems odd for an author to give her main character the same name as herself) leaves home to live with her brother Oliver (awful man who hopes to marry someone rich), leaving behind her mother, May, and her step father, Herbert (really awful arse with sinister overtones). Elizabeth's step sister, Alice has also just left home in order to get married to Leslie (horrible idiot who wants a wife to replace his mother). After some work cooking for dinner parties, Elizabeth meets and marries John (patronising git) who is incredibly rich. The only nice male in the whole book is Claude - the cat.

Also, the book is set in 1962 (they go to see a film that was released then, and someone wears plastic boots) - so what is this cover? Even on the back they call it a 'depiction of a post-war family'. I wonder if the designer or whoever briefed Katie Tooke, actually read it.

Anyway, despite all the awful men (and the weak-willed women who keep saying how stupid they are), I really enjoyed it.

[Tania · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first E.J.H. novel I've read since the Cazalet Chronicles, (which I've read twice, and loved), and I must say, I loved it. If course it lacks the scope, but is recognizably by the same author.

[Gabril · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Una soluzione provvisoria. È questo che possiamo essere gli uni per gli altri."

Ecco la morale di questa commedia agrodolce, scritta con piglio sicuro e humor infallibile.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd never heard of Elizabeth Jane Howard before reading Howard's End Is on the Landing, but now I can't believe she's not more well-known. Her writing was funny and sparkly and unusual--the closest comparison I can think of is a sort of British Truman Capote. I also just found out that she was married to Kingsley Amis, surely a reason for notoriety in and of itself. This is an author who would be perfect for a New York Review Books Classics re-release.

[La lettrice controcorrente · Rating 3 out of 5]

Le mezze verità di Elizabeth Jane Howard (Fazi) è la storia di una famiglia, bizzarra e perché no, anche un po' triste. La madre de I Cazalet si misura ancora una volta con una storia ricca di dinamiche familiari  complesse e non prive di dolore. Protagoniste assolute, anche questa volta, sono donne tutte diverse tra loro e in un certo senso tutte colpevoli. 

May ha sposato un uomo burbero e.... agghiacciante: il colonnello Herbert. Entrambi hanno figli dai precedenti matrimoni: Herbert Alice, mentre May è la mamma di Elizabeth ed Oliver. Le mezze verità  è carico di malinconia e si apre con una fuga: Alice pur di non rimanere a casa con il padre che la schiavizza, ha deciso di sposare un uomo qualunque, Leslie. Sola e senza amiche, goffa, grossa e timida, Alice ha catturato subito la mia attenzione. Ne Le mezze verità è il personaggio che fa meno rumore ma per me è stata la preferita. 
RECENSIONE COMPLETA: www.lalettricecontrocorrente.it

[Button · Rating 3 out of 5]

I suspect Howard's been trying to get me to feel a kind of postmodern despair about (then) contemporary living. If that's what she was aiming for, she didn't really succeed. I felt plenty of horror, though. Good horror, for a majority of the read. And then, SPOILERS AHEAD, I felt the bad kind of horror. The horror you feel when a perfectly capable writer decides to be lazy, and to deviate from the interesting suspenseful build-up you've been enjoying for over two hundred pages. SHE JUST KILLS JOHN. His last bit of dialogue is so syrupy:

"I want you to feel that you could have 'flu or break your leg or embark upon an evening or a week with some of the world's greatest bores, or be shipwrecked or anything awful you can think of, and that you'd feel all right about any of those things because you were with me. The only thing I couldn't bear would be to be without you."


She's just getting ready to stab you with his death, which follows immediately thereafter:

"But he never did come back because on his way home from the airport the car went at a great speed into a bus that was travelling in the opposite direction, and thence through some fencing into a small ravine."

OKAY. If this had been a novel wherein the idea of chance and randomness had been bandied about, this could have been acceptable. Still a hokey set-up (that dialogue! Come on!), but it would have worked. But Howard never explored any sort of existential the-universe-doesn't-care-and-isn't-following-a-formula thing. The closest she got was [AGAIN, MORE SPOILERS] Alice's miscarriage. That, however, was also done a bit lazily: the subsequent interesting legitimate heartrending emotional repercussions of the miscarriage were excellent, but the event itself was dropped with no warning into the plot - it had only just been mentioned that she was pregnant. It's difficult to inspire a sense of loss before a reader realizes there's something to lose.

I'm not even going to talk about the poisoning of May, and her escape from death. By page 84, the colonel's plan should be pretty clear. I'm too angry about John's death. I need a cigarette.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the writing in this novel. A story of women trapped by society and circumstance in middle class England. I sense a lot of EJH’s frustrations within her own marriage coming out onto the pages.
As for the ending, that some reviewers here have hated, I would say it’s all perfectly plausible, and horrific, too. Just like real life, in fact. Things do happen entirely out of the blue.
There are some terrific set pieces in here: the aftermath of a miscarriage, the feeling of being totally in love, the frustration of broken relationships. Beautiful. Listen to the Backlisted podcast after you’ve read it, if you can.

[keikohuchica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Senza infamia e senza lode questo libro della Howard , a tratti noioso nella parte centrale si fa rivalutare nel finale dove si verificano alcuni colpi di scena che permettono di dare mezza stellina in più .

[Jane Gregg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite everything rapidly coming to a close, I loved this. Another fine study in desperate domesticity.

Second reading to prepare for the Backlisted podcast episode and it’s even better than ever.

[Agnes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mah ! Lettura di evasione nel senso che quando l’ho terminato mi sono sentita liberata .....( ma perché poi ho perso tempo a leggerlo?) .

[psiedoll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Le mezze verità è un libro autoconclusivo (ormai cosa più unica che rara), che racconta la storia di una famiglia del Surrey. May Brown Lacey ha sposato il colonnello Herbert in "tarda età". Entrambi hanno figli dai loro precedenti matrimoni, e May decide di appoggiarsi al colonnello che sembra tanto una persona a modo e comprensiva. I figli di May, Oliver ed Elizabeth, odiano il colonnello, e decidono quindi di trasferirsi a Londra per stare lontano da Papi. D'altro canto, anche Alice, figlia del colonnello, decide di lasciar casa trovando marito. Proprio nessuno sopporta il colonnello, nemmeno il gatto di casa superciccione Claude.
Non avevo mai letto nulla di Elizabeth Jane Howard, e devo dire che ne sono rimasta estasiata.
Il libro ha come tema principale l'abitudine inglese di non dire le cose, ma di far in modo che tutto rimanga sulla superficie, come Mezza verità, appunto.
Lo stile di scrittura è schietto, a tratti ironico, e nonostante ci sia un elevato numero di personaggi, la Howard è riuscita a farmi affezionare ad ognuno di questi. Provare emozioni quando si legge qualcosa sta diventando sempre più difficile, sopratutto quando, come me, si leggono troppi libri. Eppure, Le Mezze Verità mi sono piaciute tanto, tantissimo.
Sopratutto il finale a tratti noir che, togliendo finalmente il travestimento di tutti i personaggi, è riuscito a riportare la verità parzialmente nascosta durante tutto il racconto.

[Veronica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh dear -- EJH seems a bit like Rose Tremain in that her novels are either brilliant, or duds. This is the latter. I loved the Cazalet Chronicles for the vivid, believable characters, the scene-setting, the slow unrolling of their lives. This novel is populated with lazy stereotypes and lay-it-on-with-a-trowel satire of rich people's lives. There are moments of pathos, but mostly it's hard to feel for the characters. And if the stereotypes are lazy, the plot is even more so -- ludicrously at the very end, which is a massive disappointment.

Another oddity: the book was published in 1969, and as far as I can tell is set fairly contemporaneously. So why are all the young women so wimpish and convinced that their fate in life is to marry the first man to ask them, however uninspiring he may be, and then spend the rest of their lives having babies and housekeeping? I note that it also coincides with her being married to Kingsley Amis, so this could account for the lack of form in this novel -- he basically stopped her from writing by providing her with an endless supply of supportive and domestic tasks. Note that she wrote the Cazalet Chronicles after leaving him ...

[Mrs Darcy of the House Stark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Le mezze verità annoia e, purtroppo, mi ha fatto addormentare spesso. Non è stata colpa della scrittura della Howard che trovo sempre impeccabile, sono i personaggi che non conquistano e di cui non mi è mai interessato molto.
Il finale è stato veloce ma almeno ha messo un po' di pepe al tutto.
Proviamo qualche altro suo titolo che è meglio!

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elizabeth Jane Howard. She is just the best. So funny, astute, the perfect brave authorial goddess over the realms of her creation, by which I mean how effortlessly she pulls off her surprises, her unminced words and unexpected observations. One character is a father who consciously dislikes his daughter and whose feelings for her disturb him. A parent who unconsciously dislikes his offspring seems fairly commonplace, but I thought this character was both convincing and sympathetic. There are some other horrid men is this story and women who, by inexperience or credulity or need to keep up appearances, are their victims. I kept imploring them to run or get the meat cleaver. But EJH works it out.

Here’s a scene of a party with the in-laws to a misbegotten marriage:

« So here [Alice] was, in the Mounts’ spare room having a rest so that she would be all right for their party that evening. …. Alice had never been good at parties (in fact she’d been to very few), but the Mounts’ parties were the worst she’d ever tried to be good at. Everybody seemed to know everybody else extremely well: there was a great deal of public badinage, and when—as experience had awfully taught her it invariably was—this was directed at her, she was struck dumb, paralysed, utterly done for. There were always too many people for the room: the large dining room table loaded with food took up a good third of it. It was also very hot, as Mrs Mount imported fires and put them all over the place so that the room was alive with scorching culs-de-sac and perfectly airless. None the less, Mounts and Mount guests managed to eat and drink and think of things to say to one another for hours and hours, and Alice, as a quasi-Mount, was in agony. Sometimes, late in the evening, they played terrible games that drew attention to people and, she felt, particularly to her: ‘games’ being a kind of cynical synonym for torture. The worst feature of these social nightmares was the feeling that everybody was enjoying themselves except her. It seemed so unfair: like being colour blind or tone deaf or not being able to smell or something. ‘Relax!’ people would cry; ‘not to worry!’ ‘She’s shy,’ someone would inevitably, but publicly, confide—as though she was, not tone, but stone, deaf. »

I love how this passage starts out as neutral third person, shifts more closely into Alice’s point of view (It seemed so unfair!), and how my reader’s attitude shifts from sympathy to feeling that poor Alice needs to buck up, to recognition of just how patronizing people can be…. And then there’s that slam dunk of a last line: ‘…not tone, but stone, deaf!’ All those wonderful, rhythmic commas! Just brilliant. I’m not much for parties myself.

The podcast Backlisted has a recent episode discussing Something In Disguise. It’s good fun. Elizabeth Jane may not be Dostoevsky but neither is she chick-lit. It’s a shame she is not more widely read and enjoyed by readers of both camps.

[Litote · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lire ce roman d’Elizabeth Jane Howard, c’est comme retrouver un bain chaud : on s’y glisse avec plaisir, avant de réaliser que l’eau est pleine de courants froids et de remous inattendus. Dès les premières pages, je me suis laissée happer par cette chronique implacable de la classe moyenne anglaise des années 60, où les conventions sociales pèsent lourd sur les épaules des femmes.
Elizabeth (étrange choix, d’ailleurs, que de donner à son héroïne le prénom de l’auteure) quitte un foyer étouffant, peuplé de figures sinistres : une mère effacée, un beau-père abject, un frère manipulateur et une demi-sœur déjà engluée dans un mariage toxique. Le seul personnage masculin fréquentable est Claude… un chat. Et pourtant, j’ai adoré. J’ai adoré la manière dont Howard déploie ses scènes, avec ce style limpide et ironique, cette façon de basculer sans heurts d’une narration distante à une plongée dans l’intimité d’un personnage, comme dans cette scène de fête poignante avec Alice, que j’ai trouvée à la fois insupportable et bouleversante.
Malgré la galerie de personnages odieux ou faibles, j’ai été captivée. J’avais envie de hurler aux femmes de fuir, de les secouer, mais je comprenais aussi leur résignation, leur enfermement. Le roman m’a touchée par sa justesse, sa cruauté feutrée, son humour au vitriol. La fin m’a semblé tout à fait juste, imprévisible, glaçante, et pourtant inévitable.
Je n’ai pas seulement lu une satire, j’ai lu un roman profondément humain, sombre mais lumineux par éclats. Un portrait grinçant de ce qui fait les mariages ratés, les vies compromises, les existences enfermées. Et malgré tout, j’en redemande. L'autrice ne console pas, elle montre. Et c’est, pour moi, ce qui la rend si puissante. Bonne lecture !

https://latelierdelitote.canalblog.co...

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Elizabeth Jane Howard and was happy to be sent to her again by the Backlisted Halloween episode about this book. Because it was a Halloween choice I was prepared for something sinister, and the fact that nothing seems sinister at all in the beginning made that even more exciting. Also, just coming off reading Mexican Gothic and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, this was a perfect complement. Like the Cazalet chronicles this book swings its spotlight serially to different characters making the book feel like a wonderful collection of short stories that intersect. And the characters are wonderful, such that it’s tempting to wish she’d write a book just about Oliver or just about May. But that’s been done and done and done - how much more delightful to the reader to see Oliver dip in and out of the story - what a relief for him since so much is already expected of him.
Three stars because honestly the creepy plot, which she carries off well enough, feels just sort of by the way. The brush with nefarious violence is, actually, almost comic compared to the ordinary, intense experiences of the characters living their lives. In a kooky sort of British way I can see them, Oliver, telling hilarious stories about Claude right away, and even Elizabeth is emerging to coping and getting on with it. Alice - now what will happen to her? That my real question!

[Jo-Ann Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Men in this book are mostly a combination of lazy, weak, egotistical, self-serving and ultimately flawed beyond repair. Which is a good reason for women everywhere to read this novel, so that they gain some insight into how we end up unhappy in relationships. Howard's humour is relentless, as she serves up dioramas of these individuals caught in what are essentially webs of lies. Served cold, her humour is almost unbearable, and I was ready to chuck the book as a waste of too many words and no feeling. But the plot actually moves along well enough that I couldn't put the book down, as it sped its sinuous way to heartfelt conclusions. I'll be reading more of this author.

[Sarag22 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Molto gradevole il romanzo di Elizabeth Jane Howard, che ha avuto il pregio di farmi immergere per alcune ore in una realtà vivace e scoppiettante, seppure pervasa di malinconia. I personaggi sono pochi, ma tutti delineati con attenzione. La serie dei Cazalet resta impareggiabile, ma è un ottimo romanzo per chi intenda avvicinarsi all'autrice o ritrovarne la prosa vivace e i temi familiari a lei così congeniali.

[La Libridinosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 e mezzo

[Serisop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finale meraviglioso!

[Ian Mond]

It starts as a mordant satire about the upper middle class only to transform into this dark, brooding novel about power, manipulation and despair. But before it turns nasty, Howard sucks you in with a wry, knowing sense of humour – one that shows sympathy but also admonishes her cast. They include May, a middle-aged woman flush with cash due to the death of a Canadian aunty, recently married to Colonel Herbert Brown-Lacey, an odious philanderer who compels May to buy a cold, empty mansion in Surrey. Then there are May’s two children – now grown up – the galivanting and brilliant Oliver, who has no interest in finding a job, and his more serious and down-to-earth sister Elizabeth (by far my favourite character). And finally, we have Alice, the Colonel’s only child and a veritable wallflower. The novel opens with Alice’s wedding to Lesley, a decidedly awkward, cringey affair (it becomes clear early on that Alice isn’t suited to married life, at least not with an oaf like Lesley). There are other delightful, memorable characters, like the very wealthy John (who will become Elizabeth’s paramour) and the flighty, also rich Ginny (who leads Oliver a merry dance). Oh! And Claude the cat! Never forget Claude! Darkness fringes the first half of the novel. You loathe Herbert, you fear for Alice, you want the best for Elizabeth, you worry about May, you love Oliver (even if you wish he’d get it together). But then the darkness breaks through, and horrible things happen – not to all the characters, but everyone is affected somehow, including Claude! I was in awe of Howard’s subtle modulation of tone. While the novel is imbued with wit, when the darker moments occur, they leave their mark. Delightful and dastardly. If I can find the time in amongst everything else, I will read more Howard.

[Tim Julian · Rating 4 out of 5]

EJH is rapidly becoming one of my favourite novelists, and this, first published in 1969, does not disappoint. Unworldly May is married to the loathsome Herbert, and being cajoled into some kind of New Age cult, her stepdaughter Alice is about to be married to the ghastly Leslie, and her two children, brilliant, worthless Oliver and sweet but dim Elizabeth are still working out what to do with their lives. On the surface, a highly entertaining social comedy, but there are some disturbing undercurrents. It's fair to say EJH doesn't think much of the male sex, which considering she was once married to Kingsley Amis among others is perhaps not entirely surprising. There is also one of the best cats in fiction.

[Elizabeth Costelloe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a beautifully written, clever , witty novel.
I should have liked to give four stars but felt for a reader in 2024 some of the prevailing attitudes of the time, towards women, honestly portrayed by Elizabeth Jane Howard, made it an uncomfortable read in places.
My favourite character was Claude, followed by Alice !

[Sylvia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous, again. Quickly becoming a favourite author. So clever, insightful and deep. So much to praise and discuss, would be marvellous for a book club pick. How this woman isn’t a household name is beyond me. Can’t wait to read more by her.

[Kimmy C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another winner from the Cazalet author

A domestic thriller, but make it in the 60’s, and feature middle class English people. And also make it a slow burn. Really slow.
Covering the lives of May, her second husband, her children and step-daughter, and their associated partners and their respective families, this look into the somewhat precarious world of specifically women during the era, and shows (still some work to do though) just how far we’ve come.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

A reread for the nth time. My favourite of this author’s
P112, to continue another day.

[Susan Coleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like Elizabeth Jane Howard’s books. Especially the Cazlet series.

[Frances Piper · Rating 3 out of 5]

È sempre piacevole leggere questa autrice, che però resta insuperabile col suo "Il lungo sguardo" e con la saga dei Cazalet.

[Silvia Volpi · Rating 2 out of 5]

non mi ha appassionato, l'ho trovato lento e abbastanza insignificante