I have a thousand and one posts I want to do here but I made a resolution to write more book reviews and not fall behind in 2025 (cue hysterical cackling from the peanut gallery). So the other posts can wait a while and I'll talk a bit about The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard, my second book for 2025.
So, the setting for this book is two consecutive summers: 1937 and 1938. The Patriarch and Matriarch of the Cazalet family are William and Kitty, both in their seventies. They live somewhere near the south coast of England in a large house and every summer they host the whole family for the school summer holidays. They have three sons, Hugh, Edward and Rupert and an unmarried daughter, Rachel, who lives with William and Kitty. The sons all have wives and families so the house, in the summer, is very lively and full.
It's hard to say what this book is about as it doesn't have an exciting plot that cracks along and whizzes the reader off on a roller-coaster ride. It's not at all 'pacey'. It's a book about the every day lives of the middle classes just before the war: what their attitudes to current affairs were, how their marriages worked, or didn't, how they dealt with their children, how said children felt about their upbringing, schools, relatives, that kind of thing. The big surprise to me was to discover that this book was not written in the 1930s but in the 1990s. But as I went along I realised that I would not have been under that misapprehension for very long. Some of the issues featured in some detail in this book, infidelity, sex, lesbianism, menstruation, married women not being happy with their lot and much more - these are not things that would you find in books by Angela Thirkell, D. E Stevenson, Molly Clavering, who actually did write in the 1930s. Not as blatently or in such detail anyway. But none of it is offensive... don't come away with that idea. It's all handled very delicately, matter-of-factly, 'this is what happened, you decide for yourself what you think about it' sort of thing. I love it when authors do not tell you what your opinion should be (happens far too much in modern fiction), that approach can be far more effective in informing and stretching the reader.
I loved the voices of the children. There were of course brothers and sisters, cousins, ranging in age from a newborn to fifteen or sixteen, a dozen or so in all. (Thank goodness for the family tree and list of characters at the beginning!) The dynamics between boys and girls in the 1930s was interesting, sometimes quite 'Enid Blyton', others very much not in depicting the selfishness of children, their very real worries, the manipulative or predatory nature of some teenage girls... even one of the wives is only just into her twenties for instance (second marriage) and has yet to grow up properly... and the sometimes uncontrolled violence of boys and what they're prepared to do to be top dog amongst their peers.
There are some fascinating stories here. I was transported to another age but one that is about to change out of all recognition, and they know it. The writing is sublime (I was reminded of Rosamunde Pilcher), so much detail and beautiful characterisation, from the aging parents, to cheating husbands, bored housewives, vivacious children and even the cook and chauffeur were every bit as real as the rest of the cast.
I gave this an unreserved 5 stars on Goodreads. I had a feeling I would like it as I've seen glowing reviews from bloggers I respect, but as we all know that's not always what happens. Book two, Marking Time, deals with the outbreak of war. I already have it, having anticipated liking The Light Years enough that I would want to read the second book fairly soon. Good choice.
So, this is only my second book for January and I'm quite happy with that. Last year I decided to read more slowly and actually cut my number read by about 30. And I may well end up reading even less this year but enjoying more.
I hope you're all keeping well and finding excellent books to read this first month of 2025.
20 comments:
Very insightful as to the different approach Howard took vs authors writing in that era. I had forgotten exactly when this was set although I thought it was right before WWII. I knew you would enjoy this and now I want to reread it! This was the sort of book that made me long for cousins and a big country house (although I prefer to read about outdoorsy activities than participate in them!).
So glad you enjoyed this. This is one of my favorite series and I have reread it multiple times. I hope you enjoy the rest of the Cazalet Chronicles as much as I did!
Love that this turned out to be a 5-star read for you. And your comparison to Rosamunde Pilcher seemed apt. Nothing shocking ever happens in her books either, but they're such lovely reads. It's nice to just fall into a book and get to know the lives of the characters. I hope the next one is just as good! :D
Constance: Yes, just before WW2 and it'll be interesting to compare the atmosphere of this first one to that of the next book. They thought war was coming in 1938 and got lulled into a false sense of security when it didn't happen, so I'm anxious to know how it panned out for them in 1939. And like you I prefer reading about outdoorsy stuff to actually going out in the cold and wet to 'do' it.
Erin: I can well see why this is a favourite series of yours! I suspect it's going to become a favourite with me too. I loved this book.
Lark: Well, I wouldn't say that nothing shocking happens in this book. :-D But it's dealt with in a very sensitive way and the characters are just so interesting. I'm thinking their war experiences are going to be worth reading about.
Great review Cath and you describe this book so well. I don't believe I have read Elizabeth Jane Howard or Rosamunde Pilcher and clearly I have missed out. For me a book doesn't need a page turning plot provided that the characters are well drawn and interesting and it sounds like that is the case with Elizabeth Jane Howard's novels
I'm so glad you enjoyed this, Cath. Sometimes those 'slice of life' books can really be appealing, even if they don't put you on a roller coaster the way a thriller does. You make an interesting point, too, about books written in a particular era and books written about that era. There are definitely differences. I may think about doing a blog post on that...
I do believe that many years ago I read a couple of EJH's stand alone novels, although I made the decision not to start reading the Cazalet Chronicles series, because I just knew that I would probably never get to the final episode (you know what I am like when it comes to series reading!)
I have just begun reading one of the more elderly physical books I have on my shelves, which was written in the late 1990's and it really is a challenge to put myself back in time to that era, to fully immerse myself in the writing style and storyline of the times. I can appreciate anew exactly how inclusive and engrossing good descriptive writing seemed to be back then, compared to many of the authors' modern contemporaries.
This sounds like a series you have become addicted to, so I hope you manage to get your hands on all of the remaining books and enjoy them :)
Cath, this is a wonderful review of The Light Years. I remembering liking how the reader gets the story both from the point of view of all the children and the adults. I liked the 2nd book in the series even more than this one. I need to read the 3rd book this year.
It's been many years since I read the series but I know I enjoyed them
I loved reading your post reminding me of The Cazalet books and making me want to re-read them (I've kept my paperback copies, but expect my eyes can no longer read the small print!). I love EJH's books - so go glad you enjoyed this one too. You have some treats in store with the rest of the series.
Thanks for reminding me--I just checked and see I have the whole series on my tablet--bought long ago. I remember The Light Years (enjoyed it), but I can't remember where I left off in the series. Will have to go back and see. Your summation of EH's writing is spot on. Glad it was a good read for you.
Kathy: Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed the review. I completely agree that a book doesn't need to be a page-turner in order to catch my interest. I just need good writing and interesting characters that I can identify with.
Margot: I wouldn't want to live on a diet entirely made up of 'slice of life' books as I do like my crime novels and sci-fi. But once in a while, when they're done well, they're perfect. Yes, a blog post from you on books written 'in' an era as opposed to 'about' an era would be very interesting!
Yvonne: I definitely plan to finish the Cazalet series if I can, as there are only five, and then if I feel like it I'll investigate her standalones. There's about ten of those so I'll pick out one or two that sound interesting.
It's odd but the 1990s feels quite modern doesn't it, and yet it's 30 years ago and things have definitely changed. I was watching some 1990s editions of Who Wants to be a Millionaire with Chris Tarrant and it was astonishing how different the audience was to a modern-day one. Clothes, hair and so on.
Thanks... I have book 2 and the others are readily available as far as I know.
Tracy: Thank you! For me, the voices of the children made the book. Not all authors can 'do' children's voices, often making them sound older than they really are. But Howard got them spot-on in my opinion. I'm very pleased that you liked book 2 even more than book 1 and am now even more keen to get to it.
Sue: I kept seeing posts about this series all over the place and from people with the same taste as me, so I knew I would like them.
Margaret: I expect you're one of the people whose posts I saw, making me want to try these books. And I'm really pleased to have some treats in store with the rest of the series.
Mary: You're very welcome. I may well collect the series for my tablet, like you, as I like being able to adjust the font size and so on. It's nice to have the real books but when I downsize, too many physical books will be a problem.
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