Big fat juicy sagas

[WiltonGal]

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?

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

Beach Music, Pat Conroy

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.

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.

Yes, and gothic Victorian romances as Victoria Holt too.

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.

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

Literature map is quite handy for finding similar authors

https://www.literature-map.com

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)

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.

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

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

Following!

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

I like this.

What about Mary Stewart’s Merlin Trilogy?

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.