Synopsis
The Second World War has finally ended and so begins a new era of freedom and opportunity for the Cazalet family in Casting Off, the fourth novel in Elizabeth Jane Howard's magnificent Cazalet Chronicles.
‘Somehow, she could not bear to think about him. She seemed to have let him down from the start . . . She had a feeling that she was going to pay for that all of her life.’
1945. 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 continued indiscretions and her mother's grief at his betrayal, while suffering with marital issues of her own. Clary is struggling to understand her father’s actions regarding his time abroad at war, and both she and Polly experience unsuitable infatuations.
Polly, Clary and Louise must face the truth about the adult world. Meanwhile, their fathers – Rupert, Hugh and Edward – must make choices that will decide their own – and the family's – future . . .
Casting Off is followed by All Change, the fifth book in the series.
‘No detail is too small to be included, so charged with significance is the material envelope of that lost world’ – Tessa Hadley, bestselling author of After the Funeral
Details
20 August 2026
9781037409165Reviews
What magic transforms a book into a compelling, moving, unputdownable read? I don’t know, but whatever it is, [The Cazalet Chronicles] have it. The characters! I cared about them so much. They behave in interesting, venal, believable ways. They’re recognisably human: frustrating, flawed, lovable. Maybe my favourite books ever
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
Like [Elena] Ferrante, Howard’s fictional sphere is domestic and yet reveals deeper truths about human nature
Howard is a sharp observer of human drama and psychology, and writes about pain, loss and longing superbly well
