The Light Years - Elizabeth Jane Howard

Home Place, Sussex, 1937. The English family at home

Every summer, brothers Hugh, Edward and Rupert Cazalet take their families back to their childhood home in the heart of Sussex for two glorious, sunlit months. But not even this idyllic setting can alleviate heartache, fear and loneliness.

Hugh, haunted by memories of battle in France, is terrified at the prospect of another war. Handsome, charming Edward who escaped from the war unscathed is more occupied by his continuous affairs, of which his desperately bored wife, Villy, is unaware. Talented painter Rupert finds he cannot both paint and be married to his beautiful, demanding wife Zoë. And their sister Rachel is so loyal to her family that she has no time to devote to the woman she feels so passionate about – lovely, half-Jewish Sid.