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Casting Off
Cazalet Chronicles (Related to this series)
- Author
- Elizabeth Jane Howard
- Publisher
- Pan Macmillan
- Publish Date
- 11 June 2026
- Run Time
- 19 hours 20 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
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.
Read by Indira Varma (Game of Thrones, Luther and Oedipus at The Old Vic).
Includes a new introduction, written and read by Charlotte Mendelson.
‘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
Critics Review
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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 My Favourite Mistake
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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
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Like [Elena] Ferrante, Howard’s fictional sphere is domestic and yet reveals deeper truths about human nature
Elizabeth Day, bestselling author of Magpie
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Howard is a sharp observer of human drama and psychology, and writes about pain, loss and longing superbly well
Monica Ali, bestselling author of Love Marriage
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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 Sorrow and Bliss
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[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 After the Funeral
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A dazzling historical reconstruction
Penelope Fitzgerald, Booker Prize-winning author of Offshore
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Charming, poignant and quite irresistible . . . to be cherished and shared
The Times
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The Cazalets have earned an honoured place among the great saga families . . . rendered thrillingly three-dimensional by a master craftsman
Sunday Telegraph
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Elizabeth Jane Howard
- Narrator
- Indira Varma, Charlotte Mendelson
- Duration
- 19 hours 20 minutes
- Release Date
- 11 June 2026
- ISBN
- 9781037402876
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Pan Macmillan
- Genre
- Historical fiction, Classic fiction: literary and general, Family saga / generational saga fiction, Historical romance, Romance: wholesome / clean, Narrative theme: love / relationships
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.Read by Indira Varma (Game of Thrones, Luther and Oedipus at The Old Vic).Includes a new introduction, written and read by Charlotte Mendelson.‘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
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