Inge Kok Libri

"Irfan Orga was born into a prosperous family of the old Turkey under the Sultans. His mother was a beauty, married at thirteen, and lived in the total seclusion befitting her class. His grandmother, who also lived in their home, was an eccentric autocrat, determined at all costs to maintain her traditional habits. The 1914 War, however, brought ruin to the family and a transformation to Turkey. The red fez was ousted by the cloth cap, and the family was forced to adapt to an unimaginably impoverished life. In 1941 Irfan Orga arrived in London where, seven years later, he wrote his extraordinary story of his family's survival."--Back cover

Lee Fiora, quattordicenne cresciuta in una cittadina dell'Indiana, ottiene una borsa di studio per la preparatory ("prep") school di Ault, nel Massachusetts,un prestigioso liceo che prepara all'università. È - come prometteva il dépliant - un ambiente esclusivo di antichi edifici e prati curatissimi, di ragazzi dai sorrisi smaglianti e belle ragazze in kilt. Ciò che non diceva il dépliant, e che Lee capisce subito, è che lei sarà sempre un'outsider tra irampolli delle ricche famiglie della East Coast, intimidita e attratta dai suoi compagni. Proprio perché è un'estranea, un pesce fuor d'acqua, Lee riesce acogliere con spietata acutezza i tratti essenziali dei caratteri, delle relazioni, dei rituali di alunni e insegnanti.

Verslag van het leven, de liefdes en de literaire ontwikkeling van de Engelse romanschrijfster, waarin zij laat zien hoe nauw verweven geliefde werken als 'De Cazalets' zijn met haar eigen levensverhaal.

De nadagen van het victoriaanse Engeland en de eerste onzekere jaren na het einde van de oorlog vormen de achtergrond van de vierdelige 'Cazalet-kronieken' van Elizabeth Jane Howard, die de periode 1937-1947 omspannen. Deel 1, 'Lichte jaren', begint eind jaren dertig, in de laatste gouden jaren voor het uitbreken van de Tweede Wereldoorlog. In de zomermaanden komen drie generaties van de familie Cazalet bij elkaar op hun familielandgoed vlak buiten Londen. Ze vullen hun dagen met kinderspelletjes in het bos, picknicken op het strand, gin-tonics in de tuin, feestmalen in de eetkamer. Het is een zonovergoten, onbekommerde tijd - maar onder de idyllische oppervlakte broeien er affaires en gefnuikte ambities; en de oorlog werpt zijn schaduw vooruit.