Please recommend me a book. I have a criteria :)

[Greyworm]

Title says it all. I'd really appreciate any suggestions as I love reading but struggle to choose as I don't want to waste a read. I'd like to read a book over the next few weeks and I have been given a voucher for waterstones so I'm really excited.

I like books that have had the below features but not completely nessesary

• a focus on an individual /family that span over many years/decades
• a love interest which is very deep and complicated
• cultural - so I may learn about another culture/time in history
• I LOVE dystopia films and TV programmes but find some books are a it depressing as I want a sort of holdiay/light read. So I really enjoyed 1984 and a handmaid tale but don't fancy one of those.
• I love space films but not tried to read nay spacey books yet.

I like books where a story is told by many different characters too.

Books I have read again and again, so some old favourites:
Memoirs of a geisha
The horse whisperer
The thornbirds
Fear and loathing in Las vagas
I capture the castle
The rum diary (loved this)
I liked 'one day' but couldn't get into his other books.

I can't think of many more off the top of my head but I've always loved reading. I also read a story like biography of egon schiele which I really enjoyed too. So I'm pretty open. I love art and I have an interest in classics (Greek mythology) I don't fancy reading the odyssey again though.

I'll be really grateful if anyone has any suggestions :)

I liked the bell jar.
I like watched madmen to get a view into that time in America so maybe something like that?

Oh and last year I loved Eleanor oliphant but wasn't fussed on normal people

A Suitable Boy (Vikram Seth)
The Cazalet Chronicles
The Parade's End trilogy (Ford Madox Ford - from memory its actually 4 books but the last way less good than the others)

You might like the tea girl of hummingbird lane, by Lisa See.
It ticks most of your boxes, it's set mostly in China, spans a couple of decades, focuses on one family, and it's really well written.

You might like 100 Years of Solitude... will come back if I have further inspiration!

Have you tried any Daphne Du Maurier? I’m fascinated by her right now. Jamaica Inn and Rebecca are page turners - a little dark and brooding but a good holiday read.

The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran. Historical fiction set in Ancient Egypt, based around the life of Pharaoh Rameses the Great's wife. Fascinating book. Her others are good too, set in different time periods about other historical figures.

I really enjoyed Empress Orchid and the Last Empress both by Anchee Min. It's a fictional account of the concubine who became the empress during China when it's invaded by the British. Really, really interesting. I've red Empress Orchid twice and the Last Empress is on my shelf waiting to be reread I also loved Red Azalea which is Anchee's autobiography

It's not a book and not particularly cultural but Freya Norths series of the sisters from Derbyshire spans a few decades and each book is about a different sister, Freya, Pippa, Cat and then one about all of them plus their eccentric uncle.

It's light and lovely but better than chiclit and if you liked Eleanor Oliphant you would probably enjoy that series. Plus other stuff she has done.

Adele Parks has done a novel based on the world war 1 era which I really enjoyed, If You Go Away.

They are the first to spring to mind if you want something light, but engrossing and based on the fact you enjoyed Eleanor Oliphant which I also enjoyed, but is a bit of a marmite book on here.

I just read and loved a book called Educated by Tara Westover (I think?) It certainly has a fascinating family story over 2-3 decades.

My Brilliant Friend by Elana Ferrante perhaps.

www.katequinnauthor.com/series/the-empress-of-rome-saga/

These are fantastic. She has some set in the French revolution too but I've not read those yet.

The Forstye Saga by John Galsworthy

On space books, try long way to a small angry planet. It’s brilliant and ticks some of your other boxes

Days without End by Sebastian Barry

I think we’ve got similar taste and I recently really enjoyed Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens which fits most of the criteria.

I like the Susan Howatch Starbridge novels - set in a cathedral close in the first few decades of the twentieth century. Lots of angst, sex and an introduction to theology.

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Ken Follet's Century trilogy

Three books spanning different historical periods with dynasty style families.

Or try Edward Rutherford. His novels tell the story of a place through many many generations and their sagas.

Sarum
Forest
London

Try The Wildflowers, by Harriet Evans. I read it on holiday last year and remember it has a few of the features you like. It it a good, entertaining but easy holiday read.

And if you haven’t read it already, read 11.22.63 by Stephen King. Loads of history/culture, lots of complex relationships, and one of my all time favourite books.

Try The Tea Planters Daughter by Janet McLeod Trotter. The whole series is good. Also The Far Pashmina Mountains.

Have you read The Shell seekers?

What about the Kite Runner or Under a Thousand Splendid Suns?

Or the Clifton Chronicles by Jeffrey Archer, not really cultural but certainly the first 4 books followed a family story set over many years

The State of the Union or The Pursuit of Happiness, bits by Douglas Kennedy.