As the First World War takes hold, a young girl comes of age in a troubled London. Capturing the longing, excitement and poignant comedy of adolescence, The Beautiful Visit is the debut novel from the beloved author of the Cazalet Chronicles, Elizabeth Jane Howard.

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

Life had been distinctly lacking in possibilities for this young girl - until The Visit. But, ever afterwards, just remembering the smell of the Lancings' house would enrapture her.

As she makes her way through life in the city, that memory will take her back - back to that very first day when Lucy and Gerald had picked her up from the station . . .

Beginning and ending with a visit to the same family, The Beautiful Visit is a novel full of love, loss, and marked by the ever-lasting effect of war.

From the lauded, bestselling author of the Cazalet Chronicles, The Beautiful Visit is the first novel from one of the most beloved British writers, Elizabeth Jane Howard.

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
Interesting and original . . . Howard has true imagination and a kind of sensuous power. She creates a wonderful atmosphere of uneasiness and oppression; she can also draw scenes with ironic brilliance: hers seems to me to be a remarkable talent. -- Antonia White, author of Frost in May * New Statesman *
Her talent seemed so effervescent, so unstoppable, that there was no predicting where it might take her -- Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall



Book Information
ISBN 9781447272205
Author Elizabeth Jane Howard
Format Paperback
Page Count 432
Imprint Picador
Publisher Pan Macmillan
Weight(grams) 284g
Dimensions(mm) 197mm * 130mm * 30mm