The Light Years: The Beloved First Instalment in The Cazalet Chronicles
Mar 2011 · Cazalet Chronicles Book 1 · Pan Macmillan
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About this ebook
‘Maybe my favourite books ever’ – Marian Keyes
Told with exceptional grace, The Light Years is a modern classic of twentieth-century English life and is the first novel in Elizabeth Jane Howard’s extraordinary, bestselling family saga, The Cazalet Chronicles.
‘They drove past fields of wheat with poppies . . . through woods of oak and Spanish chestnut . . . and hedges decorated by the last of the dog-roses bleached nearly white by the sun . . . ‘Oh, this country!’ he said . . . ‘To me, it is the best in England.’
1937. Every summer, the Cazalet brothers – Hugh, Edward and Rupert – return to the family home in the heart of the Sussex countryside with their wives and children. There, they join their parents and unmarried sister Rachel to enjoy two blissful months at Home Place. But despite the idyllic setting, nothing can be done to soothe the siblings’ heartache.
Hugh is haunted by the ravages of the Great War. Edward is torn between his familial duties and his relationships that lie outside of the home. Rupert is in turmoil over his inability to please his new wife. Meanwhile, Rachel risks losing her only chance at happiness because of her unflinching loyalty to the family.
As the world they had known begins to slip away, this is the story of one family facing up to immense change – in themselves, and in the world.
‘Elizabeth Jane Howard’s The Cazalet Chronicles is a series of five novels, but it’s so compulsive a saga that surely it counts as one work . . . vast in its scope, minute in its detail and utterly charming, it bears reading again and again’ – Gill Hornby, bestselling author of Miss Austen
‘She helps us to do the necessary thing – open our eyes and our hearts’ – Hilary Mantel, bestselling author of Wolf Hall
Told with exceptional grace, The Light Years is a modern classic of twentieth-century English life and is the first novel in Elizabeth Jane Howard’s extraordinary, bestselling family saga, The Cazalet Chronicles.
‘They drove past fields of wheat with poppies . . . through woods of oak and Spanish chestnut . . . and hedges decorated by the last of the dog-roses bleached nearly white by the sun . . . ‘Oh, this country!’ he said . . . ‘To me, it is the best in England.’
1937. Every summer, the Cazalet brothers – Hugh, Edward and Rupert – return to the family home in the heart of the Sussex countryside with their wives and children. There, they join their parents and unmarried sister Rachel to enjoy two blissful months at Home Place. But despite the idyllic setting, nothing can be done to soothe the siblings’ heartache.
Hugh is haunted by the ravages of the Great War. Edward is torn between his familial duties and his relationships that lie outside of the home. Rupert is in turmoil over his inability to please his new wife. Meanwhile, Rachel risks losing her only chance at happiness because of her unflinching loyalty to the family.
As the world they had known begins to slip away, this is the story of one family facing up to immense change – in themselves, and in the world.
‘Elizabeth Jane Howard’s The Cazalet Chronicles is a series of five novels, but it’s so compulsive a saga that surely it counts as one work . . . vast in its scope, minute in its detail and utterly charming, it bears reading again and again’ – Gill Hornby, bestselling author of Miss Austen
‘She helps us to do the necessary thing – open our eyes and our hearts’ – Hilary Mantel, bestselling author of Wolf Hall
‘Maybe my favourite books ever’ – Marian Keyes
Told with exceptional grace, The Light Years is a modern classic of twentieth-century English life and is the first novel in Elizabeth Jane Howard’s extraordinary, bestselling family saga, The Cazalet Chronicles.
‘They drove past fields of wheat wi...
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Ratings and reviews
15 reviews
Amanda Mackie
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March 25, 2013
A gentle story but nothing really happened and I didn't really see the point. Maybe if I read the whole series I will be a bit clearer
Kaz Lehnert
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May 29, 2015
First book ive read by this author....loving it...easy reading, getting to know the characters now so looking forward to the next in the series of five books....worth reading if youre after cosy nights inside with a cuppa tea to hand !!
Georgia Lawler
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May 24, 2015
I liked the sample of the first part of the book me and my sister read it all!!!
About the author
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.
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 ...
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