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Original poster

Can somebody recommend me an epic?

170 replies

WhistlersandJugglers · 15/03/2021 20:42

Hi, I'm in Ireland where the libraries have been closed all year and there is no sign of them opening any time soon. I want to buy a few long books to keep me going. I like family saga type books like Brick Lane, The Poisonwood Bible, Cutting for Stone, A Suitable Boy, Half of a Yellow Sun. If anybody has a suggestion I'd really appreciate it.

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Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 26/03/2021 18:05

Well, yes! Can't argue with that. I suppose I came to it after a quarter of a century immersed in 19th century novels and 20th century crime fiction, and I was mesmerised by the re-imagining of the 19th century novel with some of the real life issues that Dickens, Thackeray, Trollope, Eliot et al had to leave out.

DancelikeEmmaGoldman · 26/03/2021 17:53

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g Quincunx was far and away the grimmest book I’ve read. Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse, hey ho, it’s down we go. Beautifully written Victorian pastiche, but as miserable as life in a coal mine.

scentedgeranium · 26/03/2021 13:57

Lonesome Dove. Don't be put off by the cowboy theme. It's gritty and brilliant.

DesdamonasHandkerchief · 25/03/2021 19:43

Havent RTFT, and I'm sure it's been mentioned, but The Hearts Invisible Furies by John Boyne is brilliant.

Passmethefrazzles · 25/03/2021 19:38

Oh, has anyone suggested Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese?

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 24/03/2021 10:26

Oh, and one more - Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander series. Another long series I read in one go. If you've seen the Peter Weir film (recommended) you'll have some idea of what to expect.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 24/03/2021 10:23

For anybody who likes 19th century novels, I recommend The Quincunx by Charles Palliser. Published in 1989, very long. It's a novel set in the early 19th century, written in the style of the mid-19th century, but putting in topics that could only have been hinted at in a mainstream novel of the time. I thought it was marvellous.

scentedgeranium · 24/03/2021 09:20

Any of the Edward Rutherford like London or Sarum. Take you through the history of the places from foundation through the stories of interconnected families.

BIWI · 24/03/2021 09:08

If you've never read them, I can heartily recommend the Poldark series

12 books in all - I mourned when I'd finished the last one!

BIWI · 24/03/2021 08:57

If you've never read it, I can recommend Peyton Place, by Grace Metalious. It's a fantastic book, and you can really understand why it caused such a storm when it was published.

And thanks to this thread, I've also discovered that there's a sequel - Return to Peyton Place - which I've never read - deep joy!

hagsrus0 · 24/03/2021 04:09

Norah Lofts Sussex trilogy: Knight's Acre, The Homecoming, The Lonely Furrow.

Original poster
WhistlersandJugglers · 23/03/2021 23:46

@Themarvellousmrsm, I'm a big Alice Hoffman fan. Here on Earth was the first one I read about 20 years ago and The Dovekeepers was probably my favourite. I love the film Practical Magic and the related books too.

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FlyingByTheSeatof · 23/03/2021 23:38

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

and

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Are both brilliant and Epic.

Themarvellousmrsm · 23/03/2021 23:28

I had a load of recommendations for you but they've all been mentioned! Have just finished the Cazalet series as recommended by MN

I'm also working my way through Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin & thoroughly enjoying them.

Not sure if Alice Hoffman has been mentioned or Elizabeth Strout? Not quite the epic proportions of Pillers of
The Earth & Lonesome Dove (on my kindle waiting for a holidayHmm) but great reads nonetheless

blibblibs · 23/03/2021 23:15

Came on to recommend Outlander but someone already has. Very inpatiently waiting for book number 9, so currently reading the Lord John spin off books.
All the light we cannot see is another good one.
Have bookmarked though as I've read nothing but outlander for about 2 years now Blush

Original poster
WhistlersandJugglers · 23/03/2021 23:12

@FourteenthDoctor, I picked Cloudstreet up at random in a secondhand book shop last year and I really enjoyed it. I bought Dirt Music earlier in this lockdown and it's totally different, much darker but very well written.

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Wildern · 23/03/2021 23:07

@pollywollydoodler

I loved The Bean Trees (then Pigs In Heaven) are Barbara Kingsolver's early saga type novels. A teenager breaks away from her stifling hometown and a stranger presses a baby on her..
Yes, I much prefer either of those earlier Barbara Kingsolver novels to The Poisonwood Bible. (I’ve always wondered whether BK ever planned to return to the world of those novels and write something about Annawake Fourkiller...)

Her Prodigal Summer is also hefty and involving.

Original poster
WhistlersandJugglers · 23/03/2021 23:06

This thread is taking me back to my teenage years. I loved Thomas Hardy and Rebecca. Somehow I never got around to reading anything else by Daphne du Maurier. I also was fond of a bit of Somerset Maugham. (I must check the spelling of his name). Current teenagers are never going to be bored enough to do that level of epic reading.
I also loved A Town Like Alice - I don't think it's been mentioned yet. And Brideshead Revisited.

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FourteenthDoctor · 23/03/2021 23:01

Cloud street Tim winton

And Wally lamb but I can’t remember the name of the book. Might be I guess this much is true? Or similar

SealSong · 23/03/2021 22:58

I suggest trying one or two of the Russian classics...Dr Zhivago (my favourite) or Anna Karenina

Also, Thomas Hardy - Far from the Madding Crowd is wonderful, as is Tess of the D-Urbervilles.

Also, Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

and yes to Steinbeck - the Grapes of Wrath is amazing

Fifthtimelucky · 23/03/2021 22:50

I second lots of these especially The Raj Quartet (dramatised as The Jewel In the Crown) and the Barsetshire and Palliser novels by Trollope.

I'd also recommend the 'Saga of the Century' trilogy by Rebecca West (The Fountain Overflows, This Real Night and Cousin Rosamund) and The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 23/03/2021 22:40

Good TV adaptation of that a few years ago with Anna Maxwell Martin. Brilliant one from the early 70s with Dorothy Tutin too.

Original poster
WhistlersandJugglers · 23/03/2021 22:36

Ooh, I hadn't heard of South Riding but I love books set in that era. Definitely on the to-be-read list. Thanks.

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Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 23/03/2021 22:28

I adore A Dance to the Music of Time. 12 novels, published from 1951 to 1976 (ish), covering the period from just before WW1 to the mid 70s. Huge cast of characters, many appearing in several volumes. When I first read the series, not far off 40 years ago (gulp), I enjoyed the first one, enough to go on and read the second one, which I also enjoyed, but I got really hooked when I started book 3. The ones set during WW2 are absolutely marvellous (7, 8 and 9 from memory).

If you want a good long involving read that isn't a series, you couldn't do better than South Riding by Winifred Holtby, one of my all-time favourite novels.

Original poster
WhistlersandJugglers · 23/03/2021 22:19

Interesting that a few posters are recommending Penny Vincenzi. I haven't read anything by her but often see her books in second hand book shops so will buy one after lockdown.
A Dance to the Music of Time is another one that I've always meant to read, mainly because it's such a beautiful name for a book.

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