This is the fourth, and I think she planned final book in the quartet. They do get better as you progress through them; the characters develop and the whole thing develops in depth and richness.
Although they begin just after World War 1 in the 1920’s, they also cover the transition from 19th to 20th century social mores and attitudes, mainly amongst the English upper middle class where it is primarily set.
There are some wonderful moments, which drop occasionally from the very long but rarely dull narrative. Archie’s perception about the sadly repressed Rachael (whom he loved until he realises she is gay) – that Rachael didn’t understand that when you love someone (in this case her less repressed lover Sid) part of this is wanting bodily intimacy; Zoe’s realisation that getting out of one’s clothes with a lover is also getting into one body.
Paddy’s favourite character is Clary; mine I think is Kitty, the Brig’s wife and latterly widow who lives through all the change and upheaval in the world and her offspring’s lives without a moment of intolerance and with an understanding of people that, although quite understated (she is a relatively minor character) is remarkable and loving.
I also enjoyed Polly’s first visit to Lord (she doesn’t know this at the time) Fakenham’s decaying country manor and his proposal to her, which has echoes, perhaps unintended, of Elizabeth Bennett’s Pemberley moment with D’Arcy. Although Polly’s moment requires the discovery of 50 Turner paintings in the attic to underwrite the finances.
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