The Light Years: 1 (The Cazalet Chronicles) Audio CD – Unabridged, 28 May 2017

The first book in a series about the Cazalet family is a formidable achievement. It's a sweeping narrative about what may be best described as an upper middle class family in the years just before WW2. It's an evocative account of people, largely blessed by fortune and favour, whose views represent a select few from that time. The Cazalet sons are blessed by family connections, but scarred by war and apparently untouched by some social conventions.Elizabeth Jane Howard gives a detailed and often touching insight into lives where servants provide breakfast, drive 'one' to the office, and nanny and governess are accepted within the household, although their social ( lack of status) is clearly defined. It's a time of uncertainty as war clouds gather over Europe and the Cazalet children provide an interesting insight into the moral complexities of war and socialism. The Brig and The Duchy, as familial patriarch and matriarch, are an interesting counterpart to changing conventions. Along with daughter Rachel, who's bound by familial duty, but yearning to explore an alternative lifestyle, the microcosm of life is complete.I like the way the story builds, very slowly as the reader is introduced to both the time and the people. There's a very strong sense of individuals as each character is introduced and developed. Often amusing, always interesting, there's a sudden darkness when much darker issues are explored. Familial abuse creeps in, along with adultery, same sex attraction, deceit and a whole range of family conflicts bubbling away beneath the surface.This book is very much a snapshot of time, people and place, with all the associated moral conventions and challenges. I particularly enjoyed the humour, always understated, but adding a depth to the characters. The governess is a masterpiece in depiction of type. Absolutely captivated from start to finish and I'm looking forward to the later books in the series.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first few chapters of this book, but became increasingly dismayed as the author introduced more and more characters with every page: something like 30 by page 60. When I say introduced I mean established each one in some detail, before dropping them and moving on to the next batch. The effect is of touring a large office on your first day in a new job - a whirl of names and faces that are impossible to retain in detail. As I write, they are in the process of gathering at a country house, which unfortunately means yet more characters in the form of under-gardeners, scullery maids etc. I will persevere but my patience has been severely tried, which is a pity.

Boring. I bought this book after a friend had read the Italian translation and enjoyed it. Maybe the translation was better than the original. There is no depth to any of the very many characters (all having tepid baths and saying 'ghastly'all the time) I found the style trite, the story line so slow I could fall asleep over it and the grammar of the narrative (I admit to being a nit picker) poor - the subjunctive does exist in English even if infrequently used in spoken English. Not my cup of tea.

A meandering tale of posh folk in the past. 'Tale' is actually too strong a word as that implies a story. There is none to discern, just endless superficial trivia about the daily lives of a range of people in a pre WWII setting. I tried hard to find a story with any meaning or intent, but got swamped and ultimately drowned by the endless recitals of dreary daily events and dull conversations. Don't bother unless this is your sort of thing and you need a cure for insomnia.

The first book ‘The Light Years’ in The Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard introduces the upper middle class English Cazalet family and starts the late 1930’s is a hugely enjoyable read. The large sprawling Cazalet family and the supporting cast of friends and servants are all believable rounded characters - not all stereotypically formed, having good and bad characteristics, tone changes from comical to at times heartbreakingly sad. The generation that have survived WWI are shown to be carrying the weight of that war with them. The different generations bring their different points of view to the understanding of what is going on and some of the social and political problems of the time. The book is imposible to read without referring back to the family tree. The converations of the children trying to understand the complex lives of adults and mostly adults behaving in a way and with the freedon that only people with money can behave - that is that they have the safety of money to fall back on.

Elizabeth Jane Howard’s first of 5 books covers the war years for the Cazalets, , a comfortably off English middle class family who run a small family business. The narrative draws us into the family’s close knit world from the opening chapters as we are introduced to the three generations of the family including its youngest members whose lives we go onto follow in the book’s sequels as they grow up into adulthood, while we also accompany the elders into old age. What distinguishes this book and its sequels from other ‘aga sagas’ is the quality of the writing and the lightness of touch with which the author treats the thoughts and feelings of each of the characters who are both recognisable to us but also manage to surprise and interest us, and in this way reflect real life, as all good stories should do.