Marking Time

Elizabeth Jane Howard author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Pan Macmillan

Published:10th Jun '21

£9.99

Available for immediate dispatch.

Marking Time cover

The second book in the landmark Cazalet Chronicles, previously a BBC radio and TV series. As war breaks out in Britain, Marking Time follows a family wondering if their lives will ever return to normal.

As war breaks out in Britain, Marking Time follows a family wondering if their lives will ever return to normal. The second book in the landmark Cazalet Chronicles, adapted into a BBC radio and TV series.

As featured on BBC Radio 4 Open Book

Beautifully and poignantly told, Marking Time is the second novel in Elizabeth Jane Howard's bestselling family saga The Cazalet Chronicles.

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


Home Place, Sussex, 1939. As the shadows of the Second World War roll in, banishing the sunlit days of childish games and trips to the coast, a new generation of Cazalets take up the family's story.

Louise, who dreams of becoming a great actress, finds herself facing the harsh reality that her parents have their own lives with secrets, passions and yearnings. Clary, an aspiring writer, learns that her beloved father is now missing somewhere on the shores of France. And sensitive, imaginative Polly feels stuck – stuck without a vocation, stuck without information about her mother's illness, stuck without anything except her nightmares about the war.

'Charming, poignant and quite irresistible . . . to be cherished and shared' – The Times

With cover artwork exclusively designed by artist Luke Edward Hall, this is the second volume of the extraordinary Cazalet Chronicles and a perfect addition to your collection. Marking Time is followed by Confusion, the third book in the series.

If I were sent to a desert island with one book this would be my choice -- HRH The Duchess of Cornwall
Charming, poignant and quite irresistible . . . to be cherished and shared' * The Times *
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, author of Wolf Hall
The Cazalets have earned an honoured place among the great saga families . . . rendered thrillingly three-dimensional by a master craftsman * Sunday Telegraph *
Superb . . . hypnotic . . . very funny * Spectator *
Evocative and gracefully written * Cosmopolitan *
A family saga of the best kind . . . a must * Tatler *
A dazzling historical reconstruction -- Penelope Fitzgerald, Booker Prize-winning author of Offshore
This chronicle will be read, like Trollope, as a classic about life in England in our century -- Sybille Bedford, author of A Legacy and Jigsaw
Gloriously addictive . . . Family loyalty, betrayals, triumphs, tragedy, births and deaths are all blissfully here, and you become emotionally absorbed in the fate of each character * Daily Mail *

ISBN: 9781529049435

Dimensions: 197mm x 132mm x 38mm

Weight: 402g

624 pages