Top 5 ever books- what else would I like

[slet]

I was eating a bookstagram type video where this American woman listed her “god tier” books and it made me wonder what I would choose as mine. I have narrowed it down to 5 but when I thought about it I realised my 5 have a lot in common.

the 5 are

The Lacuna by Barbrara Kingsolver
Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Life after Life by Kate Atkinson
American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

i have realised they all share certain characteristics. They are all pretty long (except for atonement, all are over 600 pages). They are all large in geographical and/or historical scope and often follow a main character through their life. They all have some sort of interesting narrative structure and/or a twist or clever ending.

Can anyone think of any others that would match this criteria? I have read all of the other books by these authors.

some that come close but not quite which I also enjoyed are:

The Heart’s Invisible Furies
Hamnet
The marriage portrait
Everything ever written by William Boyd, Margaret Atwood and Clare Chambers
The Goldfinch
Caledonian Road

Just belatedly came across this thread and as I love of a lot of the books mentioned I wanted to throw a few more into the mix - books I loved that have some or all of the characteristics you are looking for -

English Passengers (probably fits your brief most closely - a sweeping historical epic about the history of Tasmania - really brilliantly written and absorbing with multiple narrators)

Diary of an Ordinary Woman (follows one woman’s life through the 20th century, very historically detailed and authentic)

Wild Swans (three generations of women living in China, bleak and hard going at times but absolutely fascinating)

The Dutch House (follows a brother and sister over five decades)

The First Woman (coming of age story set in Uganda following one character from childhood to womanhood)

Demon Copperhead (if you like Barbara Kingsolver this is probably already on your radar but if not, it’s so good!)

Lots of great recommendations here I’m adding to my list, thanks everyone!

Wild Swans
Edwards Rutherford books
Ken Follett books

This is my favourite ever book and you’re the first person I’ve “met” who thinks similarly!