Cazalet Chronicle Series

The old world begins to fade from view and a new dawn emerges in the fifth novel in Elizabeth Jane Howard’s beloved and bestselling Cazalet Chronicles.

It is the 1950s and as the Duchy, the Cazalets’ beloved matriarch, dies, she takes with her the last remnants of a disappearing world—of houses with servants, of class and tradition—in which the Cazalets have thrived.

Louise, now divorced, becomes entangled in a painful affair, while Polly and Clary must balance marriage and motherhood with their own ideas and ambitions. Hugh and Edward, now in their sixties, feel ill-equipped for this changing world, while Villy, long abandoned by her husband, must at last learn to live independently. But it is Rachel, who has always lived for others, who will face her greatest challenges yet.

As a new generation of Cazalets descend on Home Place, only one thing is certain: nothing will ever be the same again.

A new era of freedom and opportunity for the Cazalet family begins as peacetime approaches in the fourth novel in Elizabeth Jane Howard’s magnificent Cazalet Chronicles.

The Cazalet cousins, now in their twenties, are trying to piece together their lives in the aftermath of World War II, while having to engage, painfully, with their parents as fellow adults for the very first time. Louise is faced with her father’s new mistress and her mother’s grief at his betrayal. Clary is struggling to understand why her beloved father chose to stay in France long after it was safe to return to Britain. And Polly and her father are still grieving the loss of her mother.

Meanwhile, the young women’s own affairs are far from straightforward. Both Polly and Clary have fallen madly in love with much older men, both wildly unsuitable for different reasons. And Louise, stuck in a loveless marriage, is candidly considering her own options, as well as tending to her own, very private grief.

As Polly, Clary and Louise face the truth about the adult world, their fathers—Rupert, Hugh and Edward—too must make choices that will decide their own, and the family’s, future.

As World War II tightens its hold on England, daily life for the Cazalets is reshaped by rationing, air raids, and separation in the third novel of Elizabeth Jane Howard’s beloved and bestselling series.

It is 1942, and the war feels endless. Divided between the threatened streets of London and the relative quiet of Sussex, the family finds that survival on the home front mirrors the private upheavals within their own lives.

Headstrong Louise shocks everyone when she abandons her dreams of the stage for the security—and constraints—of a society marriage. In London, Polly is forced into sudden adulthood as she grapples with her mother’s death and her father’s consuming grief. And fiercely intelligent Clary refuses to accept that her missing father is dead, holding fast to hope when others have begun to let go.

As these three young women step fully into adulthood, they must confront how war has altered not only their futures, but their understanding of love, loyalty, and themselves. Sweeping yet intimate, this installment deepens the emotional power of the Cazalet Chronicles and confirms its place as one of the great family sagas of the twentieth century.

As the shadows of World War II loom over England, a new generation takes up the family’s story in the second novel in this beloved and bestselling Cazalet Chronicles

Sussex, 1939. War looms once more—an unthinkable return for a nation still scarred by the last. The Cazalets gather again at Home Place, but not for summer leisure; they come together for safety, the sunlit rituals of childhood giving way to fear and uncertainty.

As the daughters of Edward, Hugh, and Rupert come of age, their private ambitions and heartbreaks unfold under mounting pressure. Louise, who dreams of the stage, begins to see her parents not as pillars but as fallible, fragile people. Sensitive Polly is paralyzed by dread, her nightmares colored by the reality of war. And Clary, an aspiring writer, must confront the unthinkable: her beloved father is missing in France.

Poignant and unsparing, Marking Time reveals how love, loyalty, and ambition are tested when innocence gives way to experience—and a family must decide who they will become as the world changes forever.

In this modern classic of twentieth-century English life, the first in the beloved Cazalet Chronicles, a family gathers for the summer of 1937 at their country manor house, setting in motion events that will reverberate through generations.

Every summer, the Cazalet brothers—Hugh, Edward and Rupert—return to the family home in the heart of the English countryside with their wives and children. There, they join their formidable parents and unmarried sister Rachel to enjoy two glorious months of picnics, games, and sun-drenched excursions to the coast. But not even this idyllic setting can soothe each family member’s heartache, fears, and loneliness.

Hugh, haunted by memories of the Great War, is terrified at the looming prospect of more violence in Europe. Edward, charming and handsome, is torn between his wife, Villy, and his latest infidelity, while Villy dreads the tedium of domestic life after her former career as a dancer. Rupert, a talented painter, is in turmoil over his inability to please his demanding new wife, Zoe, while staying true to his artistic dreams. Meanwhile, Rachel’s unflinching loyalty to the family means risking her one chance at happiness, with the woman she feels so passionately about…

An extraordinary saga, both intimate and sweeping in scope, The Light Years introduces an unforgettable cast of characters.