by Elizabeth Jane Howard
Dramatised by Lin Coghlan

1940: Louise goes to her first dance in London and meets the famous painter, Michael Hadleigh.

Produced and Directed by Sally Avens and Marion Nancarrow.

Marking Time is the second of four compelling Cazalet novels by Elizabeth Jane Howard, which together give a vivid insight into the lives, hopes and loves of three generations.
As Elizabeth Jane Howard enters her 90th Birthday year, Radio 4 are broadcasting dramatisations of all four novels between January and August 2013.
You can catch up with series one, The Cazalets: The Light Years, on iplayer.

In the second series, the families' worst fears are realised as war breaks out. Rupert immediately decides he must join up, Edward will see what military work he can get, whilst Hugh - still suffering from injuries from the first war - has to settle with running the family firm. But it is the children who become the centre of the story, as Louise realises that her parents' marriage is not as happy as she had imagined, Clary is faced with the prospect of losing her beloved father and Polly must deal with her fear of war and a battle much closer to home. If only the adults would realise that they are not really children - but they seem stuck in some awful place where they must simply mark time.

When Elizabeth Jane Howard began writing the first of her four novels featuring the Cazalet family, her aims were modest. "I wanted to write about my youth, and the ten years that straddled the Second World War. I also wanted to write about what domestic life was like for people at home. A lot has been written about the battles and the war in a more direct sense, but little had been said about the way the whole of England changed. When the war ended, everybody was in a different position from where they were when it started."

You can catch up with Series 1 The Cazalets: The Light Years on the iplayer. Show less