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Title: Elizabeth Jane Howard

Subtitle: A Dangerous Innocence

Author: Artemis Cooper

Narrator: Eleanor Bron

Format: Unabridged

Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-22-16

Publisher: John Murray

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

Publisher's Summary:

Elizabeth Jane Howard (1923-2014) wrote brilliant novels about what love can do to people, but in her own life the lasting relationship she sought so ardently always eluded her. She grew up yearning to be an actress, but when that ambition was thwarted by marriage and the war, she turned to fiction.

Her first novel, The Beautiful Visit, won the John Llewellyn Rhys prize - she went on to write 14 more, of which the best-loved were the five volumes of The Cazalet Chronicle.

Following her divorce from her first husband, the celebrated naturalist Peter Scott, Jane embarked on a string of high-profile affairs with Cecil Day-Lewis, Arthur Koestler and Laurie Lee, which turned her into a literary femme fatale. Yet the image of a sophisticated woman hid a romantic innocence which clouded her emotional judgment. She was nearing the end of a disastrous second marriage when she met Kingsley Amis, and for a few years they were a brilliant and glamorous couple - until that marriage too disintegrated. She settled in Suffolk, where she wrote and entertained friends, but her turbulent love life was not over yet. In her early 70s, Jane fell for a con man. His unmasking was the final disillusion and inspired one of her most powerful novels, Falling.

Artemis Cooper interviewed Jane several times in Suffolk. She also talked extensively to her family, friends and contemporaries and had access to all her papers. Her biography explores a woman trying to make sense of her life through her writing as well as illuminating the literary world in which she lived.

Members Reviews:

A rather depressing life

Is there anything you would change about this book?

You cannot change a book that is about a person whose life has all the promise of an early summer morning, with the sun rising above the horizon with its warm glow, only to find that the promise is broken and it rains all day.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

I have read most of Elizabeth Jane Howard's books and loved theml, well written, interesting characters well portrayed but never dreamt that the person behind the book had a tragic love life that rambles on from one affair after another, that makes in the end for dull reading.

Have you listened to any of Eleanor Brons other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

Do you think Elizabeth Jane Howard needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

I found this book quite depressing and her love affairs tedious. Is there something missing that another book might enlighten us with her life.

Any additional comments?

I was full of hope when I began this book but became bored with her tedious love life.

Fascinating

An absolutely fascinating book. Eleanor Bron is a fine actress, but I found her narration difficult. It was as if the microphone was too close to her mouth, I could hear ever little sound from swallowing to lip licking etc. Found it really off-putting.

Thoroughly gripping

I've read all EJH's books and have always found her intriguing. This biography is superb and so delightfully read by Eleanor Bron. I highly recommend it!

Very Revelatory

Yes what a lot to get one's head around. Lie is stranger than fiction. Very moving in parts and so entertaining. Thank you.

Looking For Love

If you listened to The Cazalets, as I did ((several times, as it happens), then this biography of the author Elizabeth Jane Howard, is indispensable.