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The Light Years
- Cazalet Chronicle, Volume 1
- Narrated by: Jill Balcon
- Series: The Cazalet Chronicles, Book 1
- Length: 16 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction
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Publisher's Summary
The tangled lives of three generations evoke a vanished world in this, the first volume of the Cazalet Chronicle.
Home Place, Sussex, 1937. The English family at home.... For two unforgettable summers, they gathered together, safe from the advancing storm clouds of war. In the heart of the Sussex countryside, these were still sunlit days of childish games, lavish family meals, and picnics on the beach.
Three generations of the Cazalet family played out their lives - with their relatives, their children and their servants - and the fascinating triangle of their affairs....
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What listeners say about The Light Years
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- anon
- 05-21-20
People Watching
I was in the mood for something engaging but not very exciting, and I enjoyed this book. Other reviewers have described the story line well. There isn't much of a plot or action. This is a book for readers who enjoy people watching, are interested in the minutiae of life in a different era, and who wouldn't pass up a chance to see what other people keep in their drawers (as in bureau). There are a lot of characters and I needed to make a family tree to sort them out.
The narrator was good and I had no trouble understanding her accent. However, as one reviewer said, the volume is not consistent. Balcon's exclamations are loud, but then her voice trails off to the the point where it is barely audible. This was quite annoying.
5 people found this helpful
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- Ilana
- 01-25-14
The Age of Innocence
This is the first book of the Cazalet Chronicles, a family saga about the Cazalet family clan living very comfortably thanks to a family business—this prompting me to think of them henceforward as another set of Forsytes (see The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy), another family clan living comfortably from the fruit of their trade. It starts in the late 1930s while Europe is on the brink of WWII. Most of the actions takes place during two consecutive summer family vacations, when the whole clan are gathered at their Sussex family home. There are three generations of Cazalets, with spouses and their families plus the servants and various employees to keep track of, and while I usually have quite a bit of trouble remembering who is who when there are more than a handful of characters, this was more or less easily done here, as each of the characters is very well drawn and has a unique individual story.
The children are busy at their games and worries; about going back to school and attendant bullying for the boys, while the girls are dreaming up their future career options given the minimal education they are offered; acting, being a nun, nursing are a few possibilities. Their elderly impoverished teacher with a face like a toad and a heart of gold was a personal favourite. Their fathers, three Cazalet siblings, are all veterans from WWI. The eldest is badly affected by his war wounds and suffers from debilitating headaches (how I empathized with him!), the second is an inveterate womanizer who descends into downright disgusting lechery, while the third and youngest (and comparatively poor) brother has married a very young girl who seems to offer nothing but her beauty, after tragically losing his first wife, and badly failing to establish his painting career. Their unmarried sister meanwhile is charged with caring for her elderly father who is slowly losing his eyesight but not ready to relinquish his post of command, while she is also involved in a chaste love affair more or less sanctioned by the family.
These are innocent times, when the menace of oncoming war seems more like a fictional possibility than a real threat, though by the second summer, in 1938, when the German annexation of Czechoslovakia seems inevitable and before the signing of the Munich agreement, preparations for an assault are underway at the Cazalet compound just in case Chamberlain’s meeting with Hitler doesn’t go so well and London must be evacuated. All in all, a very satisfying piece of historical fiction seen through a modern writer’s eye, so that things which would have been left unsaid by a contemporary writer are here fully revealed. This very much brought to mind another favourite female British author’s work, The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley, which was also written in the late 20th century; it too is about a large family clan, with the story beginning during innocent pre-war summer holidays, here taking place in Cornwall. The fifth book in the Cazalet Chronicles was published recently and I will almost certainly make my way to it with time. Thanks to Suzanne and Heather on LibraryThing for strongly recommending this series of novels. I should also mention that the narration by Jill Balcon was delightful.
10 people found this helpful
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- jdukuray
- 05-06-17
Enveloping story of England between the Wars
Any additional comments?
I read many of Elizabeth Jane Howard's novels probably 30 years ago. I remember liking them all, but had moved on to other things before I got to the Cazalet Chronicles. I am so glad to have rediscovered the author and these wonderful novels. I am an Anglo-phile and so these go down easily, but I thought the first volume was flawlessly written, paced, and read by Jill Balcon. I did find a list of characters at the start that I could refer to and that helped keep the children sorted. Highly recommended if this is your cup of tea.
4 people found this helpful
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- Margaret Darley
- 01-01-14
Disappointing
Would you consider the audio edition of The Light Years to be better than the print version?
No! I much prefer the print version
How could the performance have been better?
There is too much dynamic range - the reader is sometimes whisper quiet, so you turn up the volume and the next paragraph is too loud; this is very disruptive and annoying. The reader does not differentiate between the characters, so it's not easy to tell who is speaking.
Any additional comments?
I love the story but had to go to the print version to enjoy it, I have listened to many audio books but have not been so disappointed before.
7 people found this helpful
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- tatiana
- 07-30-19
It's nothing like downton abbey
It kept jumping from one person to another and half the time u have a hard time keeping up.
2 people found this helpful
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- John C. Collins
- 02-15-22
Just Ok
I struggled to follow the plot and the different characters. The narrator did a great job I just didn't care for the story.
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- A. Heath
- 10-11-21
Well done!
This read is as gentle as a summer breeze! I felt like I quite knew all of the characters. I will be reading the next one!
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- murray
- 09-21-20
couldn't take anymore of it
so mildly interesting I kept at it until I finally realized there would be another 11 hrs of it and wasn't going anywhere. that's when I decided to abandon it. listened to another novel of hers before and liked but this was a dud
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- Diane Baude de Bunnetat
- 07-30-20
NOTHING HAPPENS!!!
I usually like the WW2 novels but this had absolutely nothing to do with a WW2 saga. There are too many characters so you can’t keep track of who is related to who. And none of them are developed enough to start caring about them. I was very bored by this book
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- Kate Rendham
- 10-24-16
Memories of a time long past
A delightful family story in the years before the Second World War in Sussex, England. It is beautifully narrated bringing all the warmth of the family, friends and staff into an interesting, uncertain time when life hung suspended while the politicians tried in vain to prevent another war.
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- Knucklebones
- 01-09-12
A snapshot of pre-WW2 upper middle class life
As the first in a quartet of novels I really enjoyed this book. The writing was excellent and drew me in quickly to the lives of the well-to-do Cazelet family, with their individual London homes as well as their large family home in Sussex. The individual characters in the story are all interesting, with the aging Brig and Duchy as heads of the family, plus their 3 children and their spouses, all in their 30s when this saga opens. It was well read by Jill Balcon who was a friend of the author. Two warnings, though. Firstly there are so many characters in the novel (20+) and the story switches so frequently from one family set to another, that I finally resorted to sketching out a family tree so I could keep track! Also, if you enjoyed listening to this book, don't make the same mistake I did of purchasing all 3 of the remaining volumes at once. My enjoyment rapidly diminished as the focus of the saga moved from the 2nd generation featured in this book to their children in the remaining novels.
41 people found this helpful
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- Heloise
- 04-09-15
Endearing
An introduction to the Cazalets and their, as yet, unremarkable lives. Lives lived in southern Britain in the late 1930s, a cocooned, safe, upper-middle class existence that seemed at times to invoke an Edwardian lifestyle rather than a modern one. A world where servants pandered, food was plentiful and excessive, the family dressed for dinner and children were obedient and deferential. Despite the comforts, life was simple for the young. A strangely hypnotic novel, splendid in its detail and sense of place.
14 people found this helpful
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- Avril
- 04-17-13
Seriously addictive
I'm not normally into 'sweeping family sagas' but had heard some of the abridged Cazelet series acted out on the radio, and wanted to hear the full version. Jill Balcon is a wonderful reader, her characterisations are so unique to each person that one forgets one is listening to a single narrator. Since listening to The Light Years I am eagerly looking forward to hearing the remaining three volumes.
14 people found this helpful
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- Kirstine
- 06-17-12
Enjoyable upmarket soap-opera
Though there are so many characters such that I wasn't always sure who was whom, I did enjoy this family saga set between the two World Wars. Jill Balcon does a fine job of narration injecting the characters with real life. The book admirably evokes the era coloured by the traumas of the First WW and the hopes that there wouldn't be another war in Europe.
11 people found this helpful
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- M. Price
- 05-11-15
A Story To Entrance You
Absolutely wonderful! This first episode of The Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard deals with the years just approaching the Second World War. I t is a delightful period piece with a wonderful, varied, cast of characters. The story deals with the children of the family as well as the adults, and this makes the novel well rounded. You focus on different family members, each coping - or trying to cope - with their own problems, some serious, some apparently trivial. Jill Balcon is the perfect narrator for this novel, her wide range and talent gives a believable voice for each character. I cannot praise The Light Years highly enough!
8 people found this helpful
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- Louisa
- 04-07-13
A magnificent listening experience
A not to be missed listening experience. Jill Balcon's reading is faultless in accent, tone and rhythm. She brings all the characters to life and you just don't want to stop listening. I had already read the book when it was published and loved it, but coming again to the series through audio was an even better experience. Despite the many books available about life during the second world war, this is one of the most vivid and realistic. In some cases it is painful, but mostly it brilliantly describes the borningness of life without being boring itself and you are swept along as you follow the hopes and fears of Louise, Polly, Edward, Diana and the others - and there are four books - bliss.
16 people found this helpful
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- Elizabeth
- 05-26-14
Great story and beautifully read.
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
I loved this book and have gone on to read the other volumes. Jill Balcon is a superb narrator who acts out the book giving the characters different voices and accents etc. so it's like listening to a radio play than a book reading.
It's quite a gentle story with a few shocking moments in it that take you by surprise.
I liked the way Elizabeth Jane Howard explores all the different characters so you begin to understand them and can see how the family fits together. I felt transported back in time and found the way that people then conducted their relationships very interesting. I wished my grandmother was still alive to discuss it with as she would have been about 20 at the time this book was set.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Impossible to choose as there are so many great characters. Possibly Christopher. I liked his conscientious objector views and the continuous debate in his head as he challenged his opinions on life and war etc. I could pick almost any character though.
Which character – as performed by Jill Balcon – was your favourite?
Again, very hard to choose. Perhaps Sid? I loved the way Jill deepened her voice slightly for her character. Jill was also great at reading all the child parts.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
When Hugh was rushing to get to Home Farm for the birth of the twins. I felt quite panicked listening to that and very shocked about the cat. I was surprised that Radio 4 hadn't included this scene in their radio dramatisation.
Any additional comments?
I also have the paper copy of the book which has a family tree at the start of it which was very useful as I would have struggled to work out how all the characters fitted together without it.
7 people found this helpful
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- pixie
- 08-02-14
Family life
What made the experience of listening to The Light Years the most enjoyable?
The subject matter, life before the war
What did you like best about this story?
The Characters, each slowly developing
Have you listened to any of Jill Balcon’s other performances? How does this one compare?
No I haven't
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No...this is best kept to relaxation and listened to in chapters. There is alot to digest
Any additional comments?
A really good insight into the middle class family situation before the war. The begining can seem complicated but as you get familiar with the family it comes together well once the story gets under way. I loved the atmosphere the book delivered. An absorbing peek into a family that seems to have it all. Loved the narrator.
5 people found this helpful
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- Zed Bay
- 07-06-14
Evocation of a Lost England
If you could sum up The Light Years in three words, what would they be?
1930s-50s Family Saga
What other book might you compare The Light Years to, and why?
Mary Wesley's and Joanna Trollope's novels, but infinitely better - what those others ought to be
Have you listened to any of Jill Balcon’s other performances? How does this one compare?
I haven't, but I will - her performance is perfect for these books and marvellously nuanced, I really admire her.
Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
I became very involved with all the characters
Any additional comments?
This does not on the face of it seem a terribly exciting story but the depth of perception about humanity and the excellence of characterisation, combined with the rich period detail and poignance of many of the story threads make it absolutely superb. I wanted to listen to it all the time. An astonishing work of imagination. The best thing I've heard from Audible so far (with The Goldfinch running a close second)
5 people found this helpful
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- Lily the Pink
- 02-06-15
Old fashioned
My mother loved this series but I found it slow and mostly uninteresting.
8 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 10-28-21
Family Remembrances
I have greatly enjoyed hearing about the family's pre-war experiences. Can't wait for the next.