Follows the members of the extended Cazalet family and their household staff over two pre-WWII summers.

A deliciously character-centric story. There is not a great deal of plot, beyond the typical "family saga" -- babies are conceived and born, affairs are had, emotions are felt and concealed, all with the shadow of war hovering overhead. I liked the plot points featuring the younger generation best. The book shifts from character to character, so it can be a little tricky to know which perspective one is in at ay given time. Readers who don't enjoy this sort of perspective-hopping may find this a frustrating read, but I enjoyed it immensely. ( )

I was gifted a bag of Cazalets some years ago, picking them up now after reading Laura's (Laurelkeet) enthusiasm for them.

A family saga with a bit of upstairs/downstairs to it in the early volumes at leadt.Kicking off in volume 1 in 1937 introducing all the family/personalities. Howard is wonderful at giving you a varied cast, and allowing you to like even the more difficult characters. And she gives a wonderful flavour of place.

Now I'm heading into WWII in Volume 2 [Marking Time]. ( )

The Cazalets–patriarch, matriarch, three adult sons, their wives and children–traditionally spend their summers at their country house in Sussex. The Light Years opens in 1937, with the first part of the novel developing each of the characters as they enjoy an idyllic summer together: eldest son Hugh his devoted wife Sybil and their three children; second son Edward, his strong-willed wife Viola aka Villy, and their three children; and youngest son Rupert, his much younger wife Zoe, and their children from Rupert’s previous marriage. Hugh and Edward make occasional trips to London for the family timber business, while Sybil and Villy capably manage household affairs while gossiping about Zoe. The cousins band together with those closest to their own age, with occasional drama and shifting loyalties. Most of this sounds too good to be true, and sure enough the second part of the novel, set in late 1938, exposes chinks in the family armor and some closely guarded secrets. The threat of war is palpable: Hitler is already laying groundwork for what we know is to come. The family engages both in denial, and preparations for living at their country house for the foreseeable future.

I love a good family saga, and this most certainly is one. Elizabeth Jane Howard puts her female characters at the center, often the source of real power in the family. At the same time, she shows the ways women are disadvantaged in society, through limited education (which continues with the female Cazalet children), to dependence on male wage earners and a complete lack of reproductive freedom. Also, the children are multi-dimensional, setting them up to play more significant roles in the ten years that play out in the remaining Cazalet Chronicles novels. I am really looking forward to continuing this series. ( )

Marvelous. Now deep into the whole 5-book series. ( )

I read all the 5 parts of the Cazalet Chronicles during christmas holiday. An English family saga which starts in 1937 and ends in november-december 1958. What struck me most was the changing world of women, starting in victiorian times. The decennia after WorldWar II, gives more possibilities to women, but marriage is still what parents most for their daughters and going to university and becoming an intellectual woman is not done. Elizabeth Jane Howard, who put a lot her own experiences and history in the chronicle is a superb in observation. Writer Hilary Mantel prized her and rightly so: "Elizabeth Jane Howard is one of those novelists who shows, through her work, what the novel is for... She helps us to do the neccessary thing - open our eyes and our hearts" ( )

Well-written family saga set just before World War 2 in a middle class family which lives in East Sussex and London. Written with technical power but also affection. The issues of family life and the international dilemma over appeasement of Germany are woven together well. Huge cast of characters, but it is still possible to keep track. A particular strength is the way in which children's thoughts, actions and speech are sharply differentiated from that of adults. Very enjoyable indeed even though I never usually read this sort of book. ( )

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/the-light-years-by-elizabeth-jane-howard/

It is the first book in a series about the Cazalets, a wealthy English family in the international timber trade (like Howard’s own). This one is set just before the second world war, and introduces us to the Cazalet family: three brothers and a sister, the women who are their lovers, their children and their parents, and a couple of other family connections as well. Everyone gets a couple of sections to themselves, the tight-third narrative moving from person to person to highlight the differences and similarities in perspective between the various relatives. The shadow of the first war lies heavily on all of them as they try and avoid thinking about the next one.

It’s a leisurely opening for an epic, and you couldn’t really call it a novel because the story does not end at the end of the book. There are a couple of pretty dark moments as well, setting up more narrative threads for future volumes. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. ( )

Satisfying. As this writer said: a "rambling, realistic family saga". I am worried about Louise. http://michellecooper-writer.com/blog/2010/10/the-cazalet-chronicles-by-elizabet... ( )

I loved it. Read many novels by Elizabeth Jane Howard many years ago and liked them all. But I never tackled the Cazalet Chronicles--so glad I have rediscovered EJH and this series. I find the writing, pacing, and (for the audio) the reading (Jill Balcon) flawless. I did need a list of characters, which I typed from the Amazon preview of the hard copy book. That helped to keep the children sorted. I'm an anglophile, like great houses, the 20th C, pastorals, so if this is your cup of tea it is highly recommended. (It is not Downton Abbey--much less soapy and more wry--and the BBC production of the series is a pale, pale facsimile of the novel's rich detail and characterizations.) ( )

Absorbing, well written, first episode of a family saga that turns out to have a few unpleasant "secrets" hidden in its depths. Elizabeth Jane Howard is particularly good at writing from a child's point of view. I will certainly be reading the next instalment. ( )

Domestic worries
kids, spouses, that Hitler chap
surely none would lie. ( )

Much ado about nothing. ( )

The Cazalet Chronicles is a series of five novels that follow the lives of an affluent English family from 1937 through 1947.
The series was dramatized on the BBC and PBS in 2001.

[The Light Years], the first in the series, takes place in 1937 and 1938. The Cazalet family includes Hugh and Kitty and their four grown children and young grandchildren. Most of the book takes place on the family estate although three of the adult children live in London. The three sons are all married with children and the one daughter is single and lives with her parents. As time has gone by she has assumed more and more responsibility for running the home and farm. Unknown to the family, she is having an affair with another woman.

Howard captures the time leading up to WWII through conversations among the family members. At first there is little concern but by 1938 most of the family is beginning to realize England could be invaded. Plans are hurriedly being made to provide additional living quarters so the children, their tutor and a few other relatives could live on the estate if London comes under siege.

Some members of the Cazalet family are thought to be based on Howard's own family and difficult childhood. She touches on several serious issues including parental jealousy and what may be the start of an incestuous relationship. ( )

(53) Oh, I loved this -- like reading 'Downton Abbey' which I dearly loved. I am just one of those anglophiles when it comes to history, literature, TV series set in Great Britain and this was no exception. The Cazalet's are an early 20th century upper class family with servants post WW1 - it is a large family and we get to know them all ~ 10ish grandkids between the 3 families, and unmarried daughter, and The Brig and the Duchy, the patriarch and matriarch. This is the lead up until WW2 when the elder Cazalet sons who have gone to the War are busy raising their families and trying to put WW1 behind them. It is hard to really suss out plot - it is just life as the narrative breezily jumps from character to character without missing a beat. Most of the scene is during the summer holidays at the Cazalet ancestral home in the country - days at the beach, family squabbles, marital discord, pregnancy & childbirth, fierce parental love, crushes, petty jealousies, etc. . .

It is a delightful narrative full of poignant character sketches and finely drawn scenes that come alive in one's mind's eye - but certainly very easy to read with simple, straightforward yet effective prose and traditional story-telling. I love Polly and her cat, I love Hugh, and enjoyed the charter of Ms Milliment as well, and the funeral for Bexford the jellyfish had me laughing out loud. . I would only take a star off because it seems a bit derivative of other things that have been written (or perhaps other things are derived from it - not quite sure when it was written) but it seems a bit unoriginal and it will likely blend into my mind with things like 'Downtown Abbey' and other multigenerational family sagas for instance 'The Forsyte Saga' jumps to mind.

But overall - Bravo! I very very rarely dive right into the next of a series. But this is just the type of novel I need at the moment - not really chick lit, but a nice period piece for an Anglophile with lots of human drama and fine characterization. I can't wait to see what happens to all the Cazalets next. ( )

This wonderful book is the first the series known as the Cazalet Chronicles.

The Cazalet family: Hugh, Edward, Rupert & unmarried sister Rachel all return each summer to their parents' home in Sussex for two months of games and relaxation (although Hugh & Edward work in London during the week.)

The cousins go on small adventures, we begin to know and understand the individual families & their members, as well as the family as a whole. (I used the provided family tree a lot for this first book.) Not a lot happens, but so much does.

I loved this gentle story. My dilemma: to read the rest of the set immediately, or string them out to make them last? (The author is deceased so there will be no more.)

Thanks so much to Joules Barnham at Northern Reader who drew my attention to this saga. ( )

I read someone else's review that said something like, "It is a total waste of paper, unless you want to read about a family constantly taking baths." It was that moment that I expected I would love this book, and I did. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series and the continued day to day lives of the Cazalets. Baths and all. ( )

The Cazalets are a trio of brothers — Hugh, Edward, and Rupert — along with their various wives and children. Hugh and Edward work in the family lumber business, while Rupert struggles to make ends meet as a schoolteacher and erstwhile painter. True to Tolstoy's famous words, each of their at least somewhat unhappy family units is unhappy in its own unique way. Hugh and his wife Sybil love each other deeply but are utterly incapable of telling the truth to each other, thus doomed to forever be doing things neither of them wants to do because each of them thinks the other does. Edward is a cad, a hound, who never met a woman he didn't want to bed, while his wife Viola (completely oblivious to Edward's dalliances) wonders why she gave up her life as a professional dancer for domestic drudgery. Rupert's still mourning his first wife, who died giving birth to their youngest, and trying to keep his children and his very young, very beautiful, very shallow second wife happy. And then there's Rachel, the unmarried sister who keeps house for their still-living parents.

The next generation of Cazalets have their own problems, from thwarted dreams of theatrical fame to bullying at public school to dealing with a stepmother who wishes you would just disappear. And lest we forget the elders, Cazalet Sr. and his wife are finding life tough going as well, as all of this family drama plays out against the faint drumbeats of the impending Second World War.

Whew! There is a lot going on here, and I didn't even mention the various intrigues and dramas that surround the servants. And yet, it never seemed too much and I found myself equally absorbed by nearly every character's storyline, which is rare. As you might expect in the first of five connected novels, there's a fair bit of scene-setting and character exposition to plow through, but the family tree and cast of characters at the front of the book got a good workout from me until I could finally keep them all straight.

With the combination of upstairs and downstairs stories along with the early 20th century setting, I couldn't help comparing the Cazalets to the Granthams of Downton Abbey, although a bit lower down on the social scale. The best thing I can think of to say about it is that all of the characters seemed like real people, with real joys and real concerns. I didn't like them all, but I understood them and recognized them for what they are. I will certainly be continuing with the series. ( )

Fabulous family saga
By sally tarbox on 23 February 2018
Format: Kindle Edition
Long but utterly unputdownable family saga, set over the two years preceding World War 2.
Every summer, the well to do Cazelet family converge at their parents' Sussex home. Three sons, each with a very different family: eldest, Hugh, is still suffering the after-effects of WW1- his past rubs off on daughter Polly, panicking about another war.
Second son Edward is charming and a womanizer...unknown to his wife, who is bored with her life.
And youngest son, artist Rupert, who must decide whether to enter the family timber business, and cope with a demanding (and much younger) second wife.
Each has several children, again all vividly depicted as very different personalities. And then there's dutiful spinster sister Rachel, involved in a secret relationship with a woman; and the elderly parents, part of a different generation, and the numerous servants...
'Family sagas' can often be rather trashy and forgettable. This is stunningly written - I'm going to read the whole set. ( )

Een prachtig geschreven familie-epos in vier delen, waarvan dit het eerste is. Wel heel veel personen, maar voorin zit een stamboom. Alles begint idyllisch, maar langzamerhand blijkt er sprake te zijn van overspel en incest en lesbische liefde. De jongeren hebben het ook niet makkelijk, door ruzies en onzekerheden. De oorlogsdreiging speelt een bijzondere rol in het boek. Het leest prettig, maar wel lekker om nu even aan een ander boek te kunnen beginnen. ( )

This is the first in the series telling the story of the Cazalet family and their servants. In this first book we are introduced to the Brig and the Duchy, their four children and spouses and the grandchildren. As such it at first is very confusing trying to work out who is related to who and how, I found myself constantly checking the family information at the beginning of the book.

As time went on the story develops and it doesn't always seem important to know the intracacies of the relationships. Set mainly in the countryside ring the summer holidays the tension of the upcoming war is never far away. Two of the sons served in WWI and so fear what will happen if war comes again especially as Hugh was injured and is still dealing with the consequences.

The women are shown to be almost trapped by what is expected of them, to be wives and mothers with little left of themselves. This is a problem in particular for the wife of the youngest son Rupert as Zoe struggles with being a second wife and step-mother and younger than her sisters-in-law. The only daughter Rachel still lives with her parents and appears to be the maiden aunt loved by all her nieces and nephews but has a secret life which she cannot share with them.

We also have an insight into the lives of the servants and my favourite character was the aging governess Miss Milliment who lives a very lonely life and lives for the children she teaches. What is it in her past that has made her as she now is.

The ending was both poignant and beautiful and I can't wait to see how their lives develop in the coming books.

For fans of Remains of the Day and Downton Abbey
( )

1st part of family saga set just before the start of WW11. Howard tells a good story. ( )

after reading howard's autobiography and really enjoying it, i want to try her novels. an interesting focus on the children. a little hard to remember who everyone is. so many characters! ( )

I hadn't read any Cazalet chronicles,but of course had heard of the stories, so was looking forward to reading this.
I was not disappointed.
The narrative is strong as are the characters.
I look forward to reading more volumes.
I was given a digital copy of this book by the publisher Open Road Integrated Media via Netgalley in return for an honest unbiased review. ( )

This is the first in a series of five books referred to as the Cazalet Chronicles. It introduces the large Cazalet family - three brothers and their wives and children and a sister - and takes places right on the brink of WWII.

I'm excited to have started this series and can tell I'm going to love it. I love a family epic with a historical background. The characters are interesting and memorable; different enough to be interesting but similar enough to understand that they are all a family. The children are great and I can't wait to see how they grow up.

I will say that the writing and ideas aren't as complex as, say, Trollope's series or The Forsyte Saga. I thought that this writing could best be compared to really good TV (not an insult). It's very straightforward and nothing shocking happened, but I immediately cared about the characters and compulsively read the book. I imagine things get more complex in later books but hope that the writing stays as clear and elegant as it has begun.

I'll take a break before starting the next one, but I'm excited to continue on with the series over the next year or two. ( )

It's a family saga that deals with the years just before WWII begins. I really enjoyed it - thought it would be tame but no, it was quite interesting with all sorts of scandalous activities. It's the first book of the Cazalet Chronicles and I will definitely be reading the rest of the series. ( )