The Beautiful Visit

By Elizabeth Jane Howard

As the First World War takes hold, a young girl comes of age in a troubled London. Capturing the longing, excitement and poignant comedy of adolescence, The Beautiful Visit is the debut novel from the beloved author of the Cazalet Chronicles, Elizabeth Jane Howard.

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

Life had been distinctly lacking in possibilities for this young girl – until The Visit. But, ever afterwards, just remembering the smell of the Lancings' house would enrapture her.

As she makes her way through life in the city, that memory will take her back – back to that very first day when Lucy and Gerald had picked her up from the station . . .

Beginning and ending with a visit to the same family, The Beautiful Visit is a novel full of love, loss, and marked by the ever-lasting effect of war.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan
• Release date: Jun 28, 2012
• ISBN: 9781447211532

Elizabeth Jane Howard

Elizabeth Jane Howard (Londres, 1923-Suffolk, 2014) escribió quince novelas que recibieron una extraordinaria acogida de público y crítica. Los cinco volúmenes de Crónica de los Cazalet, convertidos ya en un hito inexcusable dentro de las letras inglesas, fueron adaptados con gran éxito a la televisión y a la radio por la BBC. En el año 2002, su autora fue nombrada Comandante de la Orden del Imperio Británico.

Reviews for The Beautiful Visit

[helensdatter · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

For many years my desert island book

[piemouth · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Elizabeth Jane Howard died recently; I read her Cazalet Chronicles a few years ago and loved them, and didn't realize till I read the obits that there's a new book in the series. This is her first book which I'd had around but hadn't read yet. It's a memoir by a young girl in the years before and after World War I. I liked it a lot; she's good at describing thought processes and feelings. Framing the story is a visit she makes to some happy and glamorous cousins, which makes her question her own life and seek more, and another visit years later.It has a few first-book problems with a rather unbelievable love affair but what the hell, it's enjoyable and moving even if it strained credulity. There were a couple of superb moments that made me put it down to think for a bit, which I love.