Big fat juicy sagas

WiltonGal · 2026-08-19T14:02:59+00:00

I am re-reading some Penny Vincenzi novels and thoroughly enjoying them. I think I have read all the popular saga books (one I have yet to read is The Chamomile Lawn) but it got me thinking….nobody writes (or wants to publish more like) these big fat sagas anymore. I know fashions wax and wane but wondering if our addiction to tech has meant that fat books like these are no longer seen as viable? Are there any authors still writing these types of books?

MaryasBible · 01/09/2026 09:10

Has anyone found anything in the kindle deals? I got A Place For Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza which was recommended in the link posted up thread.

Liverpoolxxx · 26/08/2026 23:14

What about Mary Stewart’s Merlin Trilogy?

RaininSummer · 26/08/2026 20:50

Baldrapunzel · 23/08/2026 15:40

Literature map is quite handy for finding similar authors

https://www.literature-map.com

I like this.

MissMappsGardenProduce · 26/08/2026 19:03

Going back in time but I can recommend Arnold Bennett's, "The Old Wives' Tale." It follows two sisters from girlhood to old age.

Azuresky68 · 25/08/2026 19:52

Following!

Ilovemyshed · 25/08/2026 19:45

Not sure if they have been mentioned but

North and South - the John Jakes version about the American civil war and also the Elizabeth Gaskell book about northern England.

and the great classic Gone with the Wind

PurpleThistle7 · 24/08/2026 15:14

KiIIingMeDeftly · 23/08/2026 11:33

Jean Plaidy wrote a saga called Daughters of England under the name Philippa Carr that followed the women of a family from Tudor times to WWI. I liked them as a teenager but they're probably quite dated now and nowhere near as good as the Moorland Dynasty series for historical detail and character development. Still worth a read if you like a saga though.

Ooh... good shout. I've read most of Plaidy but missed this somehow!

KiIIingMeDeftly · 24/08/2026 08:06

I vaguely remember reading one of those. A young Jewish woman moves to Hong Kong and married a guy with a secret (ie he's gay) and then meets her true love there, who might've been half-Chinese. Shenanigans ensue and I can't recall the rest apart from it ending with the founding of Israel.

MarchionessVonSausage · 24/08/2026 06:32

I'm going out on a limb here, but I adore books by Julie Ellis. She was an American author, wrote some brilliant sagas back before we had the internet for research. Big juicy family sagas with an historical bent, her characters lived in the UK, the US and Australia.

My favorites are The Velvet Jungle, The Only Sin & No Greater Love. They are all 600 - 700 pages. She wrote loads. The Hampton Women & The Hampton Heritage were great too. I have most of them!

Books by Julie Ellis (Author of The Only Sin)

Baldrapunzel · 23/08/2026 15:40

Literature map is quite handy for finding similar authors

https://www.literature-map.com

Literature Map - The Tourist Map of Literature

https://www.literature-map.com

MaryasBible · 23/08/2026 15:36

KiIIingMeDeftly · 23/08/2026 12:30

Ooh I've just seen that Amazon has them all on Kindle Unlimited!

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There are 20 of them!! All on kindle unlimited! What a wonderful thread this is.

user1471445064 · 23/08/2026 14:55

Haven’t seen Noel Barber mentioned on here so far Tanamara set in Singapore in the 1930s is good one to try not sure if they are still available in print but sure you can get them on the kindle.

KiIIingMeDeftly · 23/08/2026 13:50

LittleGreenDragons · 23/08/2026 13:43

I loved reading Jean Plaidy. Found her when I was 14 in the school library, then I found Issac Asimov, then found boys 😬 Didn't realise she wrote under Philippa Carr so thanks for that.

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Yes, and gothic Victorian romances as Victoria Holt too.

LittleGreenDragons · 23/08/2026 13:43

KiIIingMeDeftly · 23/08/2026 11:33

Jean Plaidy wrote a saga called Daughters of England under the name Philippa Carr that followed the women of a family from Tudor times to WWI. I liked them as a teenager but they're probably quite dated now and nowhere near as good as the Moorland Dynasty series for historical detail and character development. Still worth a read if you like a saga though.

I loved reading Jean Plaidy. Found her when I was 14 in the school library, then I found Issac Asimov, then found boys 😬 Didn't realise she wrote under Philippa Carr so thanks for that.

NigellaWannabe1 · 23/08/2026 13:28

A book I absolutely love is Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (author of the Virgin Suicides). It’s a really interesting saga and I very much recommend it.

Iamblossom · 23/08/2026 13:21

Beach Music, Pat Conroy

KiIIingMeDeftly · 23/08/2026 12:30

bittertwisted · 23/08/2026 12:29

Oh I LOVED these booked, i need to hunt them down, they are so so good
Carlotta springs to mind

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Ooh I've just seen that Amazon has them all on Kindle Unlimited!

bittertwisted · 23/08/2026 12:29

KiIIingMeDeftly · 23/08/2026 11:33

Jean Plaidy wrote a saga called Daughters of England under the name Philippa Carr that followed the women of a family from Tudor times to WWI. I liked them as a teenager but they're probably quite dated now and nowhere near as good as the Moorland Dynasty series for historical detail and character development. Still worth a read if you like a saga though.

Oh I LOVED these booked, i need to hunt them down, they are so so good
Carlotta springs to mind

KiIIingMeDeftly · 23/08/2026 11:33

Jean Plaidy wrote a saga called Daughters of England under the name Philippa Carr that followed the women of a family from Tudor times to WWI. I liked them as a teenager but they're probably quite dated now and nowhere near as good as the Moorland Dynasty series for historical detail and character development. Still worth a read if you like a saga though.

FiveShelties · 23/08/2026 10:57

What a fantastic thread. So many wonderful books which I remember reading.😁

KiIIingMeDeftly · 22/08/2026 18:27

Suzyloo · 22/08/2026 18:03

Hardacre by C L Skelton is excellent, and very saga-y. The book is the basis for the TV series but they have almost nothing in common plot-wise. There's a sequel too.

Sara Donati's Into the Wilderness series has six books set in the US at the same time as Outlander (from memory, Claire appears in one of them) and they were all on KU the last time I had it. Sadly I got involved with Ice Planet Barbarians and then my cheap subscription ended :-)

I'd forgotten about Into the Wilderness. IIRC the hero is the son of Hawkeye and Cora from Last of the Mohicans and yes, Claire does guest star in one of the books. Can't remember if she uttered "Jesus H Roosevelt Christ" when she did though!

Suzyloo · 22/08/2026 18:03

Hardacre by C L Skelton is excellent, and very saga-y. The book is the basis for the TV series but they have almost nothing in common plot-wise. There's a sequel too.

Sara Donati's Into the Wilderness series has six books set in the US at the same time as Outlander (from memory, Claire appears in one of them) and they were all on KU the last time I had it. Sadly I got involved with Ice Planet Barbarians and then my cheap subscription ended :-)

llareggub · 22/08/2026 17:41

I think you might enjoy Susan Lewis.

BigcatLittlecat · 22/08/2026 17:34

I've just finished The Man Who Made Husbands jealous the 4th in the set by Jilly Cooper, 7 books to go! Re readi g again because I watched Rivals! But OP asked about new books and I feel the same! A novel of 300 pages goes so quickly! Not many new novels are long! When I go to book shops, one of my many criterias is that they have to be long novels!

OneOfEachPlease · 22/08/2026 17:23

Lots of good suggestions here. I would swerve Santa montefiore, really badly written, horrible racial stereotypes and not researched at all. Penny V and Jilly C might have done bonkbusters but they are very well written. Not like ACTAR. I find Ken Follet really horribly depressing.

I’d agree on Poldark and for more modern would go to Barbara Kingsolver Demon Copperhead as a standalone; A little Hatred Joe Abercrombie for good saga fantasy; or Love After Love by Ingrid Perseus for a standalone family epic.