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. 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.
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 -- Marian Keyes, bestselling author of <i>My Favourite Mistake</i> 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, bestselling author of the Wolf Hall trilogy The Light Years is an immense piece of work and should be read by everyone. She writes about family relationships in the most moving and beautiful way -- Bella Mackie, bestselling author of <i>How to Kill Your Family</i> Like [Elena] Ferrante, Howard’s fictional sphere is domestic and yet reveals deeper truths about human nature -- Elizabeth Day, bestselling author of <i>Magpie</i> Howard is a sharp observer of human drama and psychology, and writes about pain, loss and longing superbly well -- Monica Ali, bestselling author of <i>Love Marriage</i> I don’t know how I’d managed to miss [The Cazalet Chronicles] until now, but they’re absolute heaven -- Meg Mason, bestselling author of <i>Sorrow and Bliss</i> [N]o detail is too small to be included, so charged with significance is the material envelope of that lost world -- Tessa Hadley, bestselling author of <i>After the Funeral</i> Charming, poignant and quite irresistible . . . to be cherished and shared * The Times * The Cazalets have earned an honoured place among the great saga families . . . rendered thrillingly three-dimensional by a master craftsman * Sunday Telegraph *