Casting Off

(Paperback)

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Description

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.

Reviews

What magic transforms a book into a compelling, moving, unputdownable read I dont 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. Theyre 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, Howards 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 dont know how Id managed to miss [The Cazalet Chronicles] until now, but theyre 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 *

Author Bio

Elizabeth Jane Howard was the author of fifteen highly acclaimed novels. The Cazalet Chronicles - The Light Years, Marking Time, Confusion, Casting Off and All Change - have become established as modern classics and have been adapted for a major BBC television series and for BBC Radio 4. In 2000 she was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, and in 2002 Macmillan published her autobiography, Slipstream. She died, aged ninety, at home in Suffolk on 2 January 2014.