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Original poster

Big family saga - any suggestions please?

34 replies

Esmereldada · 03/06/2012 21:02

i fancy a big 'ol family saga.

Was about to buy Giant (as in Liz Taylor in Texas epic film) but wondered whether you had any other ideas please?

Have got pretty wide ranging taste but not up to War and Peace and don't really do much chick lit stuff.

Thank you x

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janesnowdon1 · 15/06/2012 16:42

Penmarric or Cashelmara by Susan Howatch - family sagas over a few generations

Fishpond · 12/06/2012 01:06

I second the game of thrones series and also second East of Eden by Steinbeck.

East of Eden is my 3rd favorite book Grin

iseenodust · 11/06/2012 10:35

Poldark.
Agree RF Delderfield worth a revisit.

CheerfulYank · 10/06/2012 22:18

It's not exactly a big ol' saga but I really enjoyed Object Lessons by Anna Quindlen. It's a quiet little book about a family in the 60's in America. I can't really say why, but I couldn't put it down!

VivaLeBeaver · 10/06/2012 22:14

Game of thrones books? Don't be put off by them been fantasy books as they don't really come across as fantasy. They're essentially a big family saga.

thisnameisalreadyinuse · 10/06/2012 22:09

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ELHasShutUp · 10/06/2012 22:03

Also agree with A Suitable Boy and The Poisonwood Bible. Two of my favourite books ever, and started me reading loads about the history of India and the Congo. A Suitable Boy completely changed my reading habits, as I'd never read history for pleasure before.

MadCap · 10/06/2012 21:58

Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series is pretty saga-esque. Covers a family from world War 2 to Bonnie Prince Charlie to the American Revolution. There's a fair bit of time travel and unconventional sex to keep you entertained.

HilaryM · 10/06/2012 21:50

Oh yes, Small island is great too. As is Middlesex.

DeathByChocolate01 · 10/06/2012 21:50

I'm not sure if it fits into the category of family saga, but "Small Island" by Andrea Levy is brilliant - I think the BBC made it into a programme a couple of years ago. It follows a newlywed Jamaican couple living in London in the 1950s, and their British landlady and her husband's experiences of the war.

HilaryM · 10/06/2012 21:45

Ah yes, definitely agree with A Suitable Boy and The Poisonwood Bible.

racingheart · 10/06/2012 21:39

Have you read Poisonwood Bible? That's a brilliant family saga. Bit heavy going to start but you'll be hooked once you're past the first two chapters.

cubscout · 10/06/2012 21:29

A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth? Huge, delightful, a proper Indian saga.

thisnameisalreadyinuse · 10/06/2012 20:52

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HilaryM · 10/06/2012 20:48

And another vote for the Cazalets.

LordEmsworth · 10/06/2012 20:47

Second vote for the Cazalet chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard.

CoteDAzur · 04/06/2012 18:02

Middlesex. Fantastic book, Pulitzer Prize winner.

parttimedomesticgoddess · 03/06/2012 21:28

How about House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende here

heartstart · 03/06/2012 21:27

Brothers -Bernice Ruben - read it 3 times

fivegomadindorset · 03/06/2012 21:22

Something slightly different not techinally a family saga but spans the same people over the years is The Raj Quartet, set in India during the last months of Britains rule over India.

fivegomadindorset · 03/06/2012 21:20

A good fact book is The Mitfords : Letters between Six Sisters, absolutely fascinating.

snice · 03/06/2012 21:20

Cazalet chronicles- Elizabeth Jane Howard

EyeoftheStorm · 03/06/2012 21:19

We were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates

GodlessWhore · 03/06/2012 21:17

The Hardacre sagas were good, havent read them since the 80s though.

Original poster
Esmereldada · 03/06/2012 21:17

Genius thank you (and now realise I am lazy cow and could have found that myself!)

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