Saga stories set in USA

[bookmum08]

I like reading a lot of Saga novels set in 'the olden days' - authors like Lyn Andrews, Maureen Lee, Katie Flynn etc.
However I feel I have read everything I can about Liverpool/East End of London/The War etc and am now looking for some new writers. I have always had a fascination with New York (or New Jersey - thanks to Judy Blume ) so I am looking for anybooks set in New York etc that would come under the easy to read Saga/Romantic Fiction genre rather than serious literature type stuff. Any ideas. Thanks.

Lesley Pearse - Never Look Back
It starts off in Victorian England but quickly moves to and stays in America.

Thanks Pyjamas I've read that one.

Hi OP I think you would like Adriana Trigiani's Italian/American family sagas. Not all are set in NY but some are.

Have a look at her website which will give you a good idea of the sort of stuff she writes.

Thanks highland I will have a look for those.

Maybe the Ken Follet Century trilogy would fit the bill. It's set in England, Russia and USA. He get a bit of a bad press about his dodgy descriptions of breasts, but I enjoyed the books as a whole. start with Fall of Giants.

Lonesome Dove

I loved Jane Smiley's trilogy starting with Some Luck.

We were the mulvaneys by Joyce carol oates
The son by Philip Mayer - what a wonderful book. I cried. Story of a family over decades

Also - and not sure if you can get this in the UK - but Cheryl Mandelson's Mornington Heights trilogy is wonderful. Set in NY with a highly artistic/intellectual family with no money but great values and lots of plots.

abit am going to look up that Philip Mayer one - thanks.

If you run out of reading material, Sara Donati’s “Into the Wilderness.” begins a saga starting in the 1790s in New York State. A couple of the later books are set in New York City. I generally avoid family sagas, it’s not a genre I enjoy, but I did read the first two of this series and really enjoyed them. A bonus is they’re very thick books. So weeks of isolation reading!

I love the Tales of the City Series by Armistead Maupin

It's maybe only borderline within your remit, but I really enjoyed Edward Ruthurford's New York. It's quite heavy on the history, but it does have the thread of several generations tying the narrative together.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.
(I absolutely adore Tales of the City covilha)

Great recommendations here! Lonesome Dove and Tales of the City are some of my all time favorites. More recently I loved A Little Life — it is not easy to ready (upsetting) but it’s such an amazing book. Also The Great Believers though that one is set in Chicago.

Came on to say Adrianna Trigiani too! Excellent books, really absorbing. I might re-read actually 😁

Gone With The Wind. Racist and of its time, obv, but a classic saga.

Have you ever read anything by David Foster Wallace? He was an incredibly gifted and hilariously funny but he suffered from crippling depression and he ultimately killer himself. Try out his essays like “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again” and “Consider the Lobster.” If you like his writing style (not all do) his masterpiece is “Infinite Jest.” It’s about 1400 pages including footnotes and it’s really confusing at first, but at the end it all makes sense. Although I did have to consult the internet to explain some things!

I’m from New Jersey — the northern part, NYC suburbs— and my family feels like a saga sometimes. AMA

WhatExit on my fantasy to do list is to go to New Jersey to do a Judy Blume tour! Elizabeth where she grew up, Plainsfield (?) where she lived when starting writing. I think Farbrook from Are You There God is a fictional town though. I might add in a few Paula Danziger places too - Orange I think is where she used to teach (what sort of name is Orange for a town?!)