The Golden Hours
Like many people, I was enchanted from my first reading by Elizabeth Jane Howard’s Cazalet Chronicles, the complex and emotional story of one upper-middle-class English family during World War Two and its aftermath. Unlike many, I was able to tell the author so directly: to me and my siblings she was Aunt Jane. Though the connection was not by blood — she was married to our father’s brother during WW2 — it was strong.
The idea of picking up the Cazalet Chronicles and continuing them seemed rank impertinence when I first had it. But the possibility crept up on me that perhaps it could become a reality, and after a bit it started to seem brilliant. Those characters have so much life still to live that I couldn’t imagine they weren’t somehow still existing, somewhere offstage. Tangled in with societal changes there were important matters of unfinished business that needed sorting out for individuals. What might happen with Louise and her abandoned child, Sebastian? Juliet and Neville, siblings ‘in love’, certainly had issues to address. Could Clary really live with so many relatives and write, in the beautiful house on the river? But how could Rupert and Archie be content — or capable — as teachers running a school, when they were both really artists? For how long could Polly house all her hapless relatives before Gerald started minding? Indeed, for how long can two dozen Turners finance a decrepit stately home? And does Villy really get no more from life, even after being dumped by Edward, having all her teeth out, and being willing to learn Russian? Could I not perhaps bring Hugo back to life? (No.) What’s Teddy actually doing in West Africa? And Rachel… oh Rachel. And the children! I wanted them to grow, and become themselves . . . The story was just not over.
Generations do pass; people (not just characters but authors too) do pick up the mantles of their forebears. This project is not intended to be an imitation, let alone a pastiche. It’s certainly not an exercise in branding or launching a franchise. It’s a shifting, flowing, changing continuation of life. It’s a family saga.
You might want to go back to the beginning, and read (or reread) Jane’s original books: The Light Years, Marking Time, Confusion, Casting Off, and All Change. But you can start from The Golden Hours. There will be two more Cazalet novels from me: Move On Up is coming in September 2027.
It is a joy for me to hang out with these old friends again, and I hope it is for you too.
The idea of picking up the Cazalet Chronicles and continuing them seemed rank impertinence when I first had it. But the possibility crept up on me that perhaps it could become a reality, and after a bit it started to seem brilliant. Those characters have so much life still to live that I couldn’t imagine they weren’t somehow still existing, somewhere offstage. Tangled in with societal changes there were important matters of unfinished business that needed sorting out for individuals. What might happen with Louise and her abandoned child, Sebastian? Juliet and Neville, siblings ‘in love’, certainly had issues to address. Could Clary really live with so many relatives and write, in the beautiful house on the river? But how could Rupert and Archie be content — or capable — as teachers running a school, when they were both really artists? For how long could Polly house all her hapless relatives before Gerald started minding? Indeed, for how long can two dozen Turners finance a decrepit stately home? And does Villy really get no more from life, even after being dumped by Edward, having all her teeth out, and being willing to learn Russian? Could I not perhaps bring Hugo back to life? (No.) What’s Teddy actually doing in West Africa? And Rachel… oh Rachel. And the children! I wanted them to grow, and become themselves . . . The story was just not over.
Generations do pass; people (not just characters but authors too) do pick up the mantles of their forebears. This project is not intended to be an imitation, let alone a pastiche. It’s certainly not an exercise in branding or launching a franchise. It’s a shifting, flowing, changing continuation of life. It’s a family saga.
You might want to go back to the beginning, and read (or reread) Jane’s original books: The Light Years, Marking Time, Confusion, Casting Off, and All Change. But you can start from The Golden Hours. There will be two more Cazalet novels from me: Move On Up is coming in September 2027.
It is a joy for me to hang out with these old friends again, and I hope it is for you too.
A total delight
The Guardian
Addictive reading
Mail on Sunday
Should you read this new volume of the Cazalet Chronicles? Yes! Fans can rest easy. This is a near-seamless continuation that is true to the bones and character of the original while breathing fresh life into it. The kind of sensitive renovation the National Trust would sign off
The Times
