Can somebody recommend me an epic?

[WhistlersandJugglers]

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.

Ooh yes, The Bone Clocks followed by Slade House or the Oryx and Crake trilogy (MadAddam).

I was recommended The Shell Seekers on here, it's very good.

Oh yes! I forgot about The Shell Seekers - well worth reading!

I'm in Ireland too OP are you absolutely sure your library has no service? Our local library is closed but that just means you can't go in to browse. You can order online and collect from their collection point and return books too. It might be different in each town but maybe check if you're not completely sure.

Wow, thanks to everybody for all the replies. I'm looking forward to having a proper read of the suggestions tomorrow evening.

I just double checked the library website, @LifeInAHamsterWheel and it's still closed except for online services. You can't click on books to reserve them like you usually can.

Yes to the Shell Seekers, also Coming Home.

When We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates

Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch. Paul Auster 4 3 2 1.

Coming Home! One of my favourite books.

Agree to Coming Home

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie.

You'll get quite a few of those mentioned on open library/archive.org. Do you have the library services borrow box thing?

If you enjoy Wild Swans you might like Amy Tan's books. I do anyway. King Rat is a good one by the same author as Shogun. Taipan isn't bad but Shogun is the best for epicness.

The Blind Assassin is a good read, and The Shipping News. Early, and I mean early, Maeve Binchy. Though it's been a long, long time since I read so perhaps they're rubbish. Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel if you haven't read them. All The Pretty Horses and the other two in the trilogy. Penny Vincenzi publishing house trilogy - one of them is called Something Dangerous, can't remember the other names. Her other WW2 one isn't too bad.

Kate Mosse Labyrinthe book is all right. Girl with Pearl Earring and the tapestry one.

Katherine if you haven't read it. The Grapes of Wrath and To Kill a Mockingbird if you haven't read those. Four Letters of Love.

I'm just trying to think of really long books! I loved A Suitable Boy. One of my favourite books ever.

@Needsomethingtoread

I’ve just purchased the shardlake series. Supposed to be good

I've loved the Shardlake series. It's not my usual sort of thing, don't think I've ever read any historical fiction before. But once I got into it I read through the whole series straight off.

I'm just about to re-read the Avalon series by Marian Zimmer-Bradley which are old favourites and brilliant.

Female-centric and includes the best telling of the Arthurian legend I've ever read.

Can second that the Deborah Hackness All Souls Trilogy is much better than the TV series!

Gone with Wind and Forever Amber, both already mentioned, are also proper old-fashioned epics :)

If you're into historical fiction then you should try Elizabeth Chadwick too.

Sara Donati’s family sagas of 18th century America are lengthy and engaging. And I say that as someone who usually avoids family sagas.

Anthony Trollope's Palliser Novels - 6 in all. Galsworthy's Forsyte saga - three books. Zola's Rougon-Macquart series - 20 books. Margaret Oliphant's Carlingford Chronicles - 7 books. These are all
out of copyright and you can dowload them free.

Earth's Children book series by Jean M. Auel (The Clan of the Cave Bear is the first book in the series).

I first read this series at 12, and have recently re-read at 34. It's an incredible epic of prehistoric fiction.

A good question and some great suggestions here. I read The Most Fun We Ever Had last month and would say that meets your requirements.

@DenisetheMenace

Gone With The Wind

I'll second that. Though I remember working my way through it within 24 hours. May have skipped a few pages.......

The Cazelet chronicles, if no one else has recommended it? Elizabeth Howard. Great family saga set over decades. I loved it.

Thanks everybody. I put in an order today for The Pillars of the Earth, The Shell Seekers and a Diane Pearson book. I'm very interested in the Shardlake books and the Jean M Auel books so I think they will be my next order.

For anyone else following: Some of my favourite books were recommended here. Gone With the Wind, Possession, Americanah, the Pat Barker Regeneration trilogy, the Jane Smiley trilogy and The Son would be a few that I really loved over the years. I think I might reread Possession this year, I remember being totally enthralled by it.

And how could I forget A Fine Balance? It's an amazing book and I was an emotion wreck after finishing it.

Also I meant to say that I haven't read much historical fiction but the Sarah Donati and Elizabeth Chadwick books look very interesting.

This is such a great thread OP!

Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall series is also highly recommended. Historical Elizabethan epic?

Shogun
One Hundred Years of Solitude
And yes, the Cazalets!