Louisa Young | Sunday | 10:00am

Elizabeth Jane Howard’s Cazalet Chronicles are a much-loved, elegantly written Sussex family saga, taking readers from the Great War to the shifting geopolitical landscape of the 1950s — via heartaches, intrigue, affairs and air raids. Now, in 2026, Howard’s niece, the award-winning author Louisa Young, continues the series into the swinging sixties with The Golden Hours — and she’s coming to the Book Bash to celebrate!

In the novel, it’s December 1962, and the Cazalet family are gathering to celebrate Christmas. With the family’s beloved Home Place long sold, Polly and Gerald have offered up their rambling stately pile, Fakenham Hall in Norfolk, to parents, siblings, cousins and children.

The old guard – brothers Hugh, Edward, Rupert and their sister Rachel – look on as the England they knew and understood fades from view. Cousins Polly, Louise and Clary, all now on the brink of turning forty, are struggling to balance the demands of midlife with their personal desires – however secret. And then there are the young – a new generation growing up in a society on the cusp of real change.

• Please bring your ticket on the day. When you arrive at Mannington Hall, you’ll enter the grounds, where you’ll be asked to show your ticket. You’ll be given a coloured wristband that will give you access to what you’ve bought.
• All events will start promptly at the advertised time. Please get to the tent in good time. That way, you won’t be in a rush, and we’ll be able to get everyone seated comfortably.
• All events will be suitable for people aged 12 and up, unless otherwise specified.
• Yes, all the speakers will have books for sale! And yes, you can get your copies signed!
• Your ticket grants you access to the grounds of Mannington (over the whole long weekend).
• For transport information, please visit mannington.co.uk/book-bash/
• Any questions? Email info@mannington.co.uk or phone 01263 493275