As featured on BBC Radio 4 Open Book

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.

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

The Cazalet cousins are now in their twenties, trying to piece together their lives in the aftermath of the Second World War. Louise is faced with her father’s new mistress and her mother’s grief at his betrayal, while suffering a loveless marriage of her own. Clary is struggling to understand why her beloved father chose to stay in France long after it was safe to return to Britain, and both she and Polly are madly in love with much older men.

As Polly, Clary and Louise face the truth about the adult world, their fathers – Rupert, Hugh and Edward – must make choices that will decide their own, and the family’s, future.

'Howard . . . writes about pain, loss and longing superbly well' – Monica Ali, bestselling author of Love Marriage

Casting Off is the heartbreaking and heartwarming fourth instalment of Elizabeth Jane Howard's bestselling series. It is followed by All Change, the fifth and final book in the series.

"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