Elizabeth Jane Howard

Elizabeth Jane Howard was a distinguished English novelist and screenwriter, celebrated for her keenly observed, psychologically acute fiction. She achieved critical acclaim with her debut novel, The Beautiful Visit, which won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, but is best known for her expansive family saga, The Cazalet Chronicle. Her work, often exploring the complexities of family dynamics, love, and social change, secured her a significant place in post-war British literature.

Early life and family

Born into an upper-middle-class family in London, she was the daughter of timber merchant David Liddon Howard and his wife, Katharine Margaret. Her childhood was marked by a distant relationship with her mother and a profound connection to her Belgian nanny, experiences that would later inform her fiction. She was educated at home by governesses and briefly attended Francis Holland School before pursuing a career on the stage. Her family connections included her cousin, the renowned philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, and her brother, the celebrated Colin Howard, a notable BBC radio producer.

Writing career

Her literary career began in earnest after her work for the BBC during the Second World War. Her first novel, The Beautiful Visit, published in 1950, was an immediate success, earning the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. She subsequently wrote several acclaimed novels, including The Long View and After Julius, while also working as a book reviewer for publications like The Times Literary Supplement. In the 1960s, she collaborated with Robert Bolt on screenplays and adapted works for television, including Turgenev's A Month in the Country for the BBC.

Personal life and relationships

Her personal life was often turbulent and highly publicized. Her first marriage was to the naturalist and painter Peter Scott, with whom she had a daughter. Following their divorce, she had a brief marriage to Jim Douglas-Henry. In 1965, she married the novelist Kingsley Amis, moving to his home, Lemmons in Barnet, which became a literary salon frequented by figures like Philip Larkin and Robert Conquest. This marriage, though creatively stimulating, was difficult and ended in divorce in 1983. She later had a significant long-term relationship with the painter John Koch.

Major works and themes

Her most enduring achievement is the five-volume family saga The Cazalet Chronicle, comprising The Light Years, Marking Time, Confusion, Casting Off, and the later prequel All Change. The series meticulously charts the lives of the affluent Cazalet family from 1937 to the 1950s, examining themes of class, the roles of women, and the impact of historical events like the Second World War on domestic life. Other significant novels include The Long View, which narrates a marriage in reverse chronological order, and Falling, which explores obsessive love. Her nonfiction includes a memoir, Slipstream.

Later years and legacy

In her later years, she continued to write and was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2000. She completed the final volume of The Cazalet Chronicle, All Change, shortly before her death in Bungay, Suffolk. Her work has enjoyed a major resurgence, with the Cazalet Chronicle adapted for both BBC Radio 4 and BBC Television. She is remembered as a masterful chronicler of English middle-class life, whose precise, empathetic prose has influenced subsequent generations of writers, including her stepson, the novelist Martin Amis. Category:English novelists Category:20th-century English women writers