As featured on BBC Radio 4 Open Book

The Second World War has finally ended and so begins a new era of freedom and opportunity for the Cazalet family. Elizabeth Jane Howard's magnificent Cazalet Chronicles continues with Casting Off, the fourth novel in the saga.

'She helps us to do the necessary thing - open our eyes and our hearts' - Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall

The Cazalet cousins are now in their twenties, trying to piece together their lives in the aftermath of the war. Louise is faced with her father's new mistress and her mother's grief at his betrayal, while suffering in 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.

Polly, Clary and Louise must face the truth about the adult world, while their fathers - Rupert, Hugh and Edward - must make choices that will decide their own, and the family's, future . . .

'Charming, poignant and quite irresistible . . . to be cherished and shared' - The Times

With cover artwork exclusively designed by artist Luke Edward Hall, this 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.

The fourth book in the landmark Cazalet Chronicles, previously a BBC radio and TV series. With peace finally declared, Casting Off follows the challenges of the Cazalet family emerging from war-torn Britain.

About the Author
Elizabeth Jane Howard was the author of fifteen highly acclaimed novels, including the five volumes of The Cazalet Chronicles, as well as After Julius, Falling, Getting It Right, Love All, and Odd Girl Out. 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. She had one child, Nicola, and married three times - lastly to fellow author Sir Kingsley Amis. 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.

Reviews
If I were sent to a desert island with one book this would be my choice -- Her Majesty Queen Camilla
Charming, poignant and quite irresistible . . . To be cherished and shared * The Times *
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, author of Wolf Hall
The Cazalets have earned an honoured place among the great saga families . . . rendered thrillingly three-dimensional by a master craftsman * Sunday Telegraph *
Superb . . . hypnotic . . . very funny * Spectator *
Evocative and gracefully written * Cosmopolitan *
A family saga of the best kind . . . a must * Tatler *
A dazzling historical reconstruction -- Penelope Fitzgerald, Booker Prize-winning author of Offshore
This chronicle will be read, like Trollope, as a classic about life in England in our century -- Sybille Bedford, author of A Legacy and Jigsaw
Gloriously addictive . . . Family loyalty, betrayals, triumphs, tragedy, births and deaths are all blissfully here, and you become emotionally absorbed in the fate of each character * Daily Mail *



Book Information
ISBN 9781529049428
Author Elizabeth Jane Howard
Format Paperback
Page Count 656
Imprint Pan Books
Publisher Pan Macmillan
Weight(grams) 430g
Dimensions(mm) 197mm * 131mm * 44mm