Big thank you re Cazalet Chronicles

[auberginesrus]

I can't remember who it was who recommended the Cazelet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard (i think it was a favourite books thread but can't find it). AnywayI just wanted to say thank you! I have just started the second book and am very much enjoying it, and the thought of another 3 books after this one is delicious. The characters are very well drawn and I can't wait to see how it all unfolds.

[alemci]

yes I suppose so. maybe she would have continued as there are still lose ends.

I love her detail to social history.

[Lomaamina]

I reckon it must be the last as EJH passed away around the time of its release.

[alemci]

Just finished the EJH 5th Cazalet book and I think it was well worth reading. I assume it is the last one ever?

It was worth persevering with and I found some of the others at a church fair the other day so I can re read.

[Summerbreezing]

Oh, and I second Mariana by Monica Dickens. Quite similar and very funny in parts.

[Summerbreezing]

I absolutely loved the Cazalet series. I lent them to my mum a few months ago and she devoured them and is wishing she could find a similar series.

I agree the final one wasn't up to the same standard as the others but it was still an enjoyable read.

[MorvahRising]

Lomaamina my copy of Mariana is old and battered and belonged to my MIL!

I was also taken aback about the anti-Semitism. Sad to say it was not an unusual attitude in the 1930s but it does seem shocking when you read it now.

Thank you for the link to the other thread. I've now added a ridiculous number of books to my must read list, and Greenbanks is at the top of it! I so agree with your comment about liking books about the mundanity of domestic life. That's why I love the Cazalets; I find the shopping trips and menu planning and day to day living in The Light Years completely fascinating!

[Lomaamina]

By the way, if you're looking of a more contemporary writer, you might enjoy Libby Purves and Elizabeth Buchanan, both of whose I've books I've been working through these past few weeks. Absorbing, perceptive stories of family life.

[Lomaamina]

You've met two now! (Who've read Mariana). I still have my very battered copy inherited from DM. Though rereading it recently I was rather upset to read the casual anti-semitism I'd not noticed before:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/adult_fiction/a1715234-Dorothy-Whipple

[MorvahRising]

ilovevenice (so do I btw) - I've never met anyone else who has read Monica Dickens's Mariana! I think it's a wonderful book.

[Lomaamina]

Ah that works - I found this: www.goodreads.com/book/show/723655.Mr_Wrong

Thanks

[alemci]

one is mr wrong which I was referring to, it may have been read on radio 4 recently, easier to google at your end and 3 miles high.

[alemci]

I'll have a search, it was from the library years ago.. also had a creepy story about a canal, 1 mile up? which was televised

[Lomaamina]

Can you recommend...

[Lomaamina]

I wasn't aware she'd written short stories, though I've probably read all her novels. Can unique recommend a collection alemci?

[alemci]

reading the mystery thread prompted me to think of EJH short stories with the hitchhiker on the A1. has anyone else read this

[ilovevenice]

Another Cazalets fan here - Mariana and The Happy Prisoner by Monica Dickens have a similar feel. And Penny Vincenzi's Spoils of Time trilogy about the Lytton family is more trashy but I still found it good comfort reading when in hospital recently.

[nonameisgoodname]

I love them. Read them first as a fourteen year old and still love them now. You can watch the TV series on YouTube.

[Lomaamina]

I'd say to read no. 5. It does so well to bring some key characters on. You'll be surprised at how many loose ends there are still to be dealt with.

[auberginesrus]

Have read the first 4 now, and loved them. Not sure about starting number 5 as its had mixed reviews. I thought the fourth book ended really well and tied up a lot of loose ends, so I'm not sure I need to pick them up 10 years later. Am worried it will spoil what was a lovely reading experience!

[Sonnet]

I second the Forysthe saga mumslife.
First read the Cazelets in 1996 and have re read a few times. I bought the 5th when it first came out but had difficulty getting into it so put it to one side.

[Legologgo]

I'm stuck with it every night on radio 4 too. Wah.

[MorvahRising]

It may have been me too! I usually recommend them as I love them, but I second what magimedi said - the last one left me a bit disappointed.

Really glad you're enjoying them!

[alemci]

I've just collected final one in series of Cazalets from library. it may have been me.

I've been reading EJH for years', love her books.

[Legologgo]

you see Iloved the Forsyte ( thus disproving own criticism!) but the cazalets just nothing happened apart from people having meals and going to work