Family sagas are always tempting to read, especially when they span across generations. Here are some sweeping epics that are so good that you just can’t put them down.
1.Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Yaa Gyasi’s debut begins in the 18th century and ends in the present day. It is a fast read and condenses each generation of either branches of two half-sisters into a single chapter. The novels looms through the tribal wars, slave ships, Gold Coast of Africa, the cotton picking plantations of Mississippi, bars of Harlem, missionary schools and America. Homegoing is a favourite read and was one of my personal picks in the Best Debuts of 2016.
Check review.
2.The Song of the Sun God by Shankari Chandran
Shankari Chandran’s novel begins in Colombo in 1932 and spans three generations.This is one of the rare family sagas where both the family and the historical aspects are given equal importance. The riots that shook Sri Lanka’s civilians lead to forced displacement and disharmony between communities. The novel authentically presents the food, culture, mannerisms and traditions of the region through the life of the family.
Check review
3.Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Min Jin Lee brought a fresh change to the common narrative of migration to Western countries. Pachinko begins in 1990’s Korea with Sunja who gets pregnant out of wedlock. She accepts the hand of a minister so as to save her family honour and moves to Japan. Spanning four generations, the novel explores the situation of Korean immigrants in a hostile Japan.
Check review
4.The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
One of the finest magical realism family sagas ever written is Allende’s The House of Spirits. Set in an unnamed Latin American country (which might be Chile), the novel follows three generations of the Trueba family with the backdrop of the political tensions in the country.
5.One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Often named as one of Marquez’s best works, this sweeping family epic is set in the fictional land of Macondo and traces the history of the Buendia family. The book is a landmark in the magical realism genre. It plays between the ideas of solitude and the need for love.
6.Salt Houses by Hala Alyan
Salt Houses is an ambitious debut about being on the run and unavoidable displacement. The novel starts in Nablus, Palestine in 1963 and branches into Jordan, Kuwait, Beirut, Paris and Boston. The book is more of an emotional one than a historical one but makes a compelling read.
Check review
7.Her Mother’s Mother’s Mother and Her Daughters by Maria José Silveira
This novel, translated from the Portuguese, is quite a literary feast to indulge in. It was one of this year’s selections of the Boxwalla, a book service that I have adored for quite a while. 500 years of Brazilian history, right from the time of tribes to present day society is narrated through the perspective of women.
8.Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
Kintu is set in the Buganda Kingdom (present day Uganda) in 1750 and follows the cursed blood line of the Kintu clan. This is one of the most acclaimed debuts of 2018 and is a sprawling exploration of tribes, customs, infiltration of Christianity, adverse effects of a patriarchial society on men, superstitions and relationships.
Check review
9.The Good Earth trilogy by Pearl S Buck
Pearl S Buck writes about life in a Chinese village before the first World War through the trilogy – The Good Earth, Sons and A House divided. Many of the historical changes in the books are subtle and may be easily looked over by a careless reader. Nevertheless, the storytelling is wonderful and engaging. Buck went on to win the Nobel Prize for literature in 1938 for her work.
I have two more recommendations to add to the list. Both have been on my TBR for quite a while and sound fascinating.
10.Middlesex by Jeffery Eudenides
Middlesex is the story of an intersex person trying to make sense of gender in a binary world. The novel looks through three generations of the Greek-American Stephanides family.
Check Beth Bonini’s review
11.Dreaming in Cuban by Christina Garcia
Dreaming in Cuban follows three generations of women in the del Pino/Almeida family from 1930s to 1980. It is set against the backdrop of the Cuban revolution and is the story of a family divided by politics and geography.
Check Claire Mc Alpine’s review
Novels spanning multiple generations often leave you astounded by their magnanimity. Here are some stunning books to satisfy your craving for sweeping sagas Share on X
If you are looking for genre specific lists, check out The best dystopian books
Worried about reading tips? Read my personal reading schedule here and also check out reading tips and schedules of five voracious readers on social media.
I loved Homegoing – I love family saga books and will be checking out your recommendations! Thanks
Homegoing was just amazing. In just 300 pages, Yaa Gyasi has written such an ambitious saga. Hope you love a few of the others if you pick them up x
I liked Homegoing and Pachinko. The Good Earth is a nice old classic. You just added quite a few books to my TBR list.
Lovely! I hope you will enjoy the ones that you pick up x
I have several of these books on my TBR. Your listing makes me want to read it asap!
They are are so fantastic and addictive. I hope you will get the time to read them soon
I have only read Homegoing . Pachinko and House of spirits are in my TBR
Both are great reads. While Pachinko is more realistic, the House of spirits is more surreal.
Pachinko, Homegoing and Middle Sex are books that I totally want to give a try at some point in my life. They sound so eye-opening based on so many people’s thoughts!
I really need to read Middlesex soon. Home going is simply fantastic. Hope you would pick it up soon
I am new to your blog and like it very much. I read and loved Middlesex and also liked The House of the Spirits. Pachinko and Kintu are on my TBR. I am very curious about Song of the Sun God, but according to Amazon it is currently unavailable. I’ll keep checking.
Thank you very much. I’d recommend Pachinko first which is an easier read than Kintu. The song of the sun god is fabulous but it isn’t available on Amazon. It is available only in book shops or through the publisher’s web page, Hussein Perera, based in Sri Lanka
Thanks for the tip about Hussein Perera. I live in Canada so I suspect I will have to order Song of the Sun God from their website.
Thanks for the tip. I think I will have to order The Song of the Sun God through Hussein Perera as I suspect it wouldn’t be available in bookstores here in Toronto.
4 and 5 are my all-time favourites. 🙂
Now, Pearl Buck? I would have thought she was all but forgotten.
My parents had many books from her. Need to check my shelves.
Cheers Resh.
I read an extract from The Good earth when I was at school and I knew that one day I should read the book. I did, though not very long ago. She is a wonderful writer
Which is another example of what I would call “universal” literature. No matter where the author is from, or what country, setting s/he writes on (e.g. Allende, or García Marquez who is soooo Colombian) it the books reaches you wherever you are… it is universal.
(I thin her books are in a crate at my brother’s in Paris… Darn!)
Bon week-end Resh.
Thanks for this list, I’m sure I will be adding a couple to my TBR. I have read only a few of them. Middlesex, as has been heavily mentioned, is one of my favourites. One that I would have put on this list is The Moors Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie.
Thank you! I had thought of putting The Moro’s last sigh on the list but I wasn’t really sure it was a family saga and I couldn’t confirm either. That’s a book on my TBR because of its premise and setting. I have to bump it up my reading list.
I loved Homegoing so much – That was one heavy compelling read. Garcia was an author I wanted to explore before the year ends and I started with Love In the Time of Cholera and One Hundred Years of Solitude is next. Now I am even more excited to read it.
Kintu is on my to buy list. Loved the post Resh! 🙂
Thank you. Home going was brilliant. I hope you enjoy the books you pick next x
I loved Pachinko and also the Allende novel. Middlesex is really gripping, even if some of the gender identity/notions/ideas were progressive for the time, but are not as genderqueer/nonbinary sensistive/aware as readers in 2018 would expect/hope.
Thanks for the info. I really want to read Middlesex after all the raving reviews I have read. Pachinko was wonderful, I agree.
Homegoing is the only one from your list that I have read, Resh. I have Pachinko on my shelves and Middlesex is one that always on my list.
Nice list. I loved Pachinko and I cannot wait now to read Dreaming in Cuban.
I loved One Hundred Years of Solitude and Homegoing is on my TBR. I love multi generational sagas, they have so much to tell!
I loved Homegoing, read partially 100 years of solitude. And so the others are now on my TBR. I would add Edward Rutherfurd, Ken Follett books which spans across generations and gives accurate histories.
Thank you. I have to look into them. Home going was so fantastic, wasn’t it? I loved how the author fit so much history into merely 300 pages
That was the best part. Generally such books are 800+ pages. Prose was brilliant.
Have read or heard of some of these, but not all. Very tempting indeed!
Family sagas are always so tempting. Right?
If you enjoyed Pearl S. Buck’s The Good Earth trilogy, I highly recommend reading Lin Yutang’s A Moment in Peking. It’s a wonderful story about three wealthy families in Beijing during early 20th century China. The novel features plenty of characters, culture, and tradition and is set against the backdrop of China’s most turbulent period, starting from the boxer rebellion until the onset of WW2.
Thank you for the recommendation