# Novel recommendations-generational epics **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 16, 2013, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-recommendations-generational-epics/650479 "2013-02-16T07:05:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-recommendations-generational-epics/650479/1 "2013-02-16T07:05:39Z")
I’m looking for book recommendations, and was hoping somebody could help me. What I’m looking for, specifically, are novels that are about a family or town, or whatever, over the years, like Michener did, or Rutherfurd does, or John Jakes in his “Kent Family Chronicles”. Any suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-recommendations-generational-epics/650479/2 "2013-02-16T07:18:33Z")
_[100 Years of Solitude](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Hundred_Years_of_Solitude)_ by Gabriel García Márquez ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-recommendations-generational-epics/650479/3 "2013-02-16T07:18:50Z")
100 years of Solitude? I think that’s what you’re looking for. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-recommendations-generational-epics/650479/4 "2013-02-16T07:26:45Z")
_I, Cladius_ and _Claudius the God_ by Robert Graves stretch over five generations of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-recommendations-generational-epics/650479/5 "2013-02-16T07:32:32Z")
Little, Big by John Crowley spans several generations of the Drinkwater family, moving from the early 1900s to sometime in the near future. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-recommendations-generational-epics/650479/6 "2013-02-16T10:08:18Z")
East Of Eden by Steinbeck. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-recommendations-generational-epics/650479/7 "2013-02-16T12:48:28Z")
_A Winter’s Night_ by **Valerio Massimo Manfredi** starts in an almost feudal village in the north of Italy in the early 20th century and follows a family through to the emergence of modern Italy after the chaos following the 2nd World War. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-recommendations-generational-epics/650479/8 "2013-02-16T13:20:13Z")
Heinleins series of books about Lazarus long start in an alternate 1950s and go into the far far future. Lazarus doesn’t die as he is basically the wandering jew in scinfinform but many many other characters do . You go through a lot of generations by the time you get to Friday and to sail into the sunset. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-recommendations-generational-epics/650479/9 "2013-02-16T13:56:13Z")
_Top of The World_ by Hans Ruesch, generational story of Eskimo families. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-recommendations-generational-epics/650479/10 "2013-02-16T14:10:51Z")
Came in to say 100 Years Of Solitude. Glad a couple people beat me to it. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-recommendations-generational-epics/650479/11 "2013-02-16T16:03:30Z")
Similar to Michener and Rutherford? Ken Follett did that with _Pillars of the Earth_ and the follow-up (forgot the title, haven’t read it). I really liked _The Forsyte Saga_ by John Galsworthy, and if you like the books, there have been excellent film adaptations. How about _The Thorn Birds_ by Colleen McCullough? I don’t remember how many generations were involved, but it was sort of epic. There’s also _Middlesex_ by Jeffrey Eugenides, _Elizabeth Street_ by Laurie Fabiano – immigrants from Greece and Italy to America. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-recommendations-generational-epics/650479/12 "2013-02-16T17:34:49Z")
[A Horseman Riding By](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Horseman_Riding_By) about the “Edwardian afternoon” and social change after WWI. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Made\_French\_Toast\_For\_You](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/858c86/32.png) [@I\_Made\_French\_Toast\_For\_You](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Made_French_Toast_For_You)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-recommendations-generational-epics/650479/13 "2013-02-16T17:49:44Z")
Gertrude Stein’s [The Making of Americans](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Making_of_Americans) “traces the genealogy, history, and psychological development of members of the fictional Hersland and Dehning families.” It’s a million pages long, extraordinarily repetitive, and has been sitting on my bookshelf for years, unread. But you’ll probably have better luck with a book called _100 Years of Solitude_, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. ---
**Author:** ![Reepicheep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@Reepicheep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reepicheep)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-recommendations-generational-epics/650479/14 "2013-02-16T20:11:15Z")
The Roselynde Chronicles by Roberta Gellis (_Roselynde, Alinor, Joanna, Gilliane, Rhiannon, Sybelle, Desiree_), starts in 1189. Although not formally part of the Chronicles \*The Sword and the Swan \* covers Alinor’s grandfather, Ranulf Sire, during the unrest of King Stephen’s last days. Ms. Gellis’ writing is meticulously researched. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2013, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-recommendations-generational-epics/650479/15 "2013-02-17T06:34:33Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > Heinleins series of books about Lazarus long start in an alternate 1950s and go into the far far future. Lazarus doesn’t die as he is basically the wandering jew in scinfinform but many many other characters do . You go through a lot of generations by the time you get to Friday and to sail into the sunset. Heinlein also wrote a book called _Orphans of the Sky_, actually two stories, about a generation ship…that is, a space ship which was intended to have generations of people live on it while it traveled to another star system. There have been other generation ship stories since then, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Renifer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Renifer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renifer)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2013, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-recommendations-generational-epics/650479/16 "2013-02-17T17:06:24Z")
The Aurora Teagarden mystery series by Charlaine Harris. Not exactly generational but spreads out in a span of ten years, give or take, and has a town full of interesting characters. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2013, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-recommendations-generational-epics/650479/17 "2013-02-17T17:59:07Z")
I wouldn’t consider the Teagarden mysteries generational in any sense. In most series, the characters do age and change as they have adventures. Janet Evanovitch’s Stephanie Plum series (One for the Money, etc.) is remarkable in that even though the characters have adventures, they don’t seem to age or change much. In just about any other series that I can think of, though, what happens to the characters in the early books will affect how they act and react in later books. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-recommendations-generational-epics/650479/18 "2013-02-17T18:33:30Z")
Evan Hunter’s Mothers and Daughters is one of my favorites. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2013, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-recommendations-generational-epics/650479/19 "2013-02-17T23:03:39Z")
Not quite generations, but _A Dangerous Fortune_ by Ken Follett covers a family over the course of several decades.