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All Change

The Beloved Fifth Instalment in The Cazalet Chronicles

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All Change

By: Elizabeth Jane Howard
Narrated by: Penelope Wilton
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About this listen

As the old world begins to fade from view and a new dawn emerges, All Change marks the fifth and final volume in Elizabeth Jane Howard's beloved and bestselling Cazalet Chronicles.

'Compelling, moving, unputdownable . . . Maybe my favourite books ever' - Marian Keyes, bestselling author of My Favourite Mistake

It is the 1950s and as the Duchy, the Cazalets’ beloved matriarch, dies, she takes with her the last remnants of a disappearing world – houses with servants and cherished tradition – in which the Cazalets have thrived.

Louise, now divorced, becomes entangled in a painful affair, while Polly and Clary must balance marriage and motherhood with their own ideas and ambitions.

Hugh and Edward, now in their sixties, feel ill-equipped for this changing world, while Villy, long abandoned by her husband, must at last learn to live independently.

But it is Rachel, who has always lived for others, who will face her greatest challenges yet. And nothing will ever be the same again . . .

'She helps us to do the necessary thing – open our eyes and our hearts' – Hilary Mantel, bestselling author of The Mirror and the Light

All Change is the heartbreaking and heartwarming final instalment of Elizabeth Jane Howard's bestselling series.

 20th Century Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Romance Marriage Emotionally Gripping Heartfelt

Critic reviews

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)
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)
Like [Elena] Ferrante, Howard’s fictional sphere is domestic and yet reveals deeper truths about human nature (Elizabeth Day, bestselling author of Magpie)
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)
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)
[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)
A dazzling historical reconstruction (Penelope Fitzgerald, Booker Prize-winning author of Offshore)
Charming, poignant and quite irresistible . . . to be cherished and shared
The Cazalets have earned an honoured place among the great saga families . . . rendered thrillingly three-dimensional by a master craftsman
All stars
Most relevant
First, I was, as ever seems to be the case with me and 'trends', a very late arrival to the EJH fan club. But once I found them, I loved and devoured all the other books. This one was written very much later and is set a little later than the others which run pretty much consecutively from just before WW2 to just after its end. Now, in this final volume, we jump forwards by quite a few years.

So I was anxious about whether the book would grip me as the others did, especially the first two in the saga. Some reviews were unfavorable but I went ahead because I really did want to know what happened next.

And it was fine. A different narrator but beautifully read. It is not quite as sharp as the earlier books but it nonetheless diligently deals with most of the characters (not the one who went off to be a monk; he gets left out really) in order and follows the formula for the other books of visiting each family or person in turn.

We get helpful asides to make sure we know what year we are in - the Suez Crisis, telly being around (for the servants, of course) and so on. And so I felt it worked rather well. Things do move on for everyone, and in some cases it's sad, in others it's just 'normal' life.

I won't spoil it, but I was 75% satisfied with the end. I wish it had been a bit different, but the main reason I was not wholly happy was that still, it left unfinished business, but I suppose it had to stop somewhere. There is a sense of some story lines being hastily tied up and others being perhaps too complicated to deal with fully - much like real life. But this is as far from 'real' as you can get. That's fine with me.

I will really miss my many weeks spent with these characters. Largely because of the era it evoked, rather than fondness for them all. I do love the author's complete obsession with food!

A Sort of an Ending

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Would you listen to All Change again? Why?

Most definitely!

What other book might you compare All Change to, and why?

All the previous books in the Cazelet series, a fabulous continuation.

What does Penelope Wilton bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

She captures the very essence of all the characters in the the family, so evocative of their times. Her diction is perfect, never overblown and her accents are subtle.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Both! The storylines epitomise the world that the family lived in. I laughed at the the absurdity of some of their actions and cried at their tragedies. I became absorbed 'into' the family.

Any additional comments?

Please can we have more of the same high standard of writing and narration.

Intelligent, stylish storyline.

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I am bereft at having to say goodbye. Incomparable storytelling. Wish there was another instalment.

Superb close to The Cazalet Chronicles

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Sadly I really struggled with this last volume. The writing and pace of all of them has been gentle and slow - but this one seemed to rather take the thing to extremes! I also really did not like the change of narrator and found her continual mis-pronunciation of quite simple words both sloppy and annoying. A shame!

Sadly, not the most enjoyable in the series.

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A wonderful series, I put off listening to this last volume for a while as I didn’t want it to end. Call me batty but I feel like I have a large family tucked away somewhere. The characters are so real, and their stories believable that you get completely immersed in their world. I can’t praise it enough. I will explore more books by EJH and highly recommend you do too.

Treat yourself to a superb series

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