The Second World War has finally ended and so begins a new era of freedom and opportunity for the Cazalet family in Casting Off, the fourth novel in Elizabeth Jane Howard's magnificent Cazalet Chronicles.
'Compelling, moving, unputdownable . . . Maybe my favourite books ever' - Marian Keyes, bestselling author of My Favourite Mistake
The Cazalet cousins are now in their twenties, trying to piece together their lives in the aftermath of the Second World War. Louise is faced with her father’s new mistress and her mother’s grief at his betrayal, while suffering a loveless marriage of her own. Clary is struggling to understand why her beloved father chose to stay in France long after it was safe to return to Britain, and both she and Polly are madly in love with much older men.
As Polly, Clary and Louise face the truth about the adult world, their fathers – Rupert, Hugh and Edward – must make choices that will decide their own, and the family’s, future.
'She helps us to do the necessary thing – open our eyes and our hearts' – Hilary Mantel, bestselling author of The Mirror and the Light
Casting Off is the heartbreaking and heartwarming fourth instalment of Elizabeth Jane Howard's bestselling series. It is followed by All Change, the fifth and final book in the series.
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 9781035042470
Number of pages: 656
Weight: 446 g
Dimensions: 197 x 132 x 40 mm
What magic transforms a book into a compelling, moving, unputdownable read? I don’t know, but whatever it is, [The Cazalet Chronicles] have it. The characters! I cared about them so much. They behave in interesting, venal, believable ways. They’re recognisably human: frustrating, flawed, lovable. Maybe my favourite books ever - Marian Keyes, bestselling author of My Favourite Mistake
She is one of those novelists who shows, through her work, what the novel is for . . . She helps us to do the necessary thing – open our eyes and our hearts - Hilary Mantel, bestselling author of the Wolf Hall trilogy
Like [Elena] Ferrante, Howard’s fictional sphere is domestic and yet reveals deeper truths about human nature - Elizabeth Day, bestselling author of Magpie
Howard is a sharp observer of human drama and psychology, and writes about pain, loss and longing superbly well - Monica Ali, bestselling author of Love Marriage
I don’t know how I’d managed to miss [The Cazalet Chronicles] until now, but they’re absolute heaven - Meg Mason, bestselling author of Sorrow and Bliss
[N]o detail is too small to be included, so charged with significance is the material envelope of that lost world - Tessa Hadley, bestselling author of After the Funeral
A dazzling historical reconstruction - Penelope Fitzgerald, Booker Prize-winning author of Offshore
Charming, poignant and quite irresistible . . . to be cherished and shared - The Times
The Cazalets have earned an honoured place among the great saga families . . . rendered thrillingly three-dimensional by a master craftsman - Sunday Telegraph
This series has sort of lost its way for me. The author has an irritating habit of writing about characters without specifying which characters are talking or thinking, so you spend half the chapter trying to figure... More
What a let down ! The series started with such promise but seemed to get bogged down in adultery and contrived happy endings for a chosen few . It was while I was reading this that I came across an interview with the... More
The fourth volume in a big series in every sense was at one point the place where it all seemed to finish. Happily, I am convinced that you can read it as a standalone book (though I would strongly suggest that you... More
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