Every family has at least a little drama, and maybe a few secrets. Perhaps that’s why family sagas are so irresistible: they explore the complex relationships between multiple generations, tracing a family’s fate and fortune.
These fictional dramas may follow one family, multiple generations, or interconnected families, showing us how they change and evolve over the decades.
This makes the genre ideal for multiple installations, though many thrive as standalone novels. From Gone with the Wind to The Godfather, these sagas are often told on an epic scale.
In this post, we’ve rounded up 12 must-read family saga books that will keep you hooked through years of ups and downs between spouses, siblings, parents, and children.
Best Family Saga Books
Below are 12 riveting family sagas that explore complex relationships and multigenerational drama.
1. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
It’s the turn of the century, and Francie Nolan’s Irish Catholic family is struggling to stay afloat in the Brooklyn slums.
Her family is often scorned for their erratic and eccentric behavior, including her father’s excessive drinking and her Aunt’s habit of marrying often without formally divorcing. But Francie is young, imaginative, and determined to make a better life for herself.
2. The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher
At the end of her long and full life, Penelope Keeling’s most prized possession is The Shell Seekers, painted by her father. It symbolizes her unconventional life, from her bohemian childhood to wartime romances.
When Penelope’s adult children learn that the painting is now worth a fortune, they each have ideas about what their mother should do, but as Penelope recalls the passions, tragedies, and secrets of her life, she knows the answer lies in her heart.
3. Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
As the youngest daughter, a family tradition prohibits Tita from ever marrying. Instead, she’s destined to remain at home and care for her mother in her old age.
So when she’s forced to refuse Pedro’s marriage proposal, he ends up marrying her sister instead. This triggers a series of events that have lifelong consequences for Tita’s entire family.
4. The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
Isabel Allende’s first novel is a multigenerational saga full of magical realism and powerful female characters.
Esteban is the volatile and proud patriarch of the Trueba family who voraciously pursues political power. His delicate wife, Clara, has a mystical connection to the spirit world.
When their daughter Blanca begins on a forbidden love affair to defy her father, the result is a granddaughter whom Esteban comes to adore. Alba is a beautiful and strong-willed child who will lead her family and her country into a revolutionary future.
5. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
East of Eden is John Steinbeck’s literary classic and modern retelling of the Book of Genesis. It’s the story of Cal and Aaron, twin brothers raised by their father, Adam.
One boy thrives and is nurtured by the love of all those around him. The other grows up lonely, enveloped by a mysterious darkness.
Set in Salinas, California, the book explores themes of identity, the inexplicable nature of love, and the murderous consequences when love is absent.
6. The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis
In 1923, during the Great Migration, 15-year-old Hattie Shepherd flees Georgia and heads north, hoping to build a better life in Philadelphia.
Instead, the man she marries will end up bringing her nothing but disappointment, and she watches helplessly as her firstborn twins die of an illness that a few pennies could have prevented.
Hattie will go on to have nine more children, whom she’ll raise with grit and none of the tenderness they crave. She does so to prepare them for a world that she’s sure will not be kind.
Their lives are captured here in twelve threads, illustrating now just their journeys, but also a mother’s monumental courage and a nation’s tumultuous history.
7. A Cloud in the Shape of a Girl by Jean Thompson
A Cloud in the Shape of a Girl follows three generations of women in the Wise family and the impact crushed dreams and unwanted children have on their lives.
It starts with Evelyn, who wanted a career more than children; her daughter Laura, who wanted to be a better mother than her own; and Grace, who buckles under the pressure to be her best self.
8. The Patriots by Sana Krasikov
To escape the Great Depression, Florence Fein leaves Brooklyn for a job in Moscow, hoping to find love and independence.
But once there, she discovers that she cannot return home again. Her son, Julian, later immigrates back to the United States, but his work brings him often to Moscow.
When Julian learns that Florence’s KGB file has been opened, he arranges a business trip to uncover the truth about his mother, and tries to convince his son, Lenny—who’s trying to make his fortune in Putin’s cutthroat Russia—to return home.
What Julian discovers is a chilling untold story of a generation of Americans abandoned by their country, and the secret history of collusion between two rival countries.
9. The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka
This relatively short family saga is told in eight sections, following the lives of “picture brides” who were brought to San Francisco from Japan.
It traces their arduous journeys by boat, their tremulous first nights as new wives, their experiences raising children who grew up to reject their culture and language, and later, the devastating arrival of war.
10. Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane
Francis Gleeson and Brian Stanhope are both rookie NYPD cops and neighbors in the suburbs. But it’s what happens behind closed doors in both homes—from the loneliness of Francis’s wife, Lena, to the instability of Brian’s wife, Anne—that sets the stage for this books’s explosive events.
A lifelong friendship and love blossoms between Kate Gleeson, Francis’s daughter, and Peter Stanhope, Brian’s son. But one shocking night, their loyalties are divided, and their bond will be tested constantly the next 30 years.
11. The Godfather by Mario Puzo
Released in 1969, this may be the most famous family saga of all, thanks to it award-winning and oft-quoted film adaptation.
Mob boss Vito Corleone had high hopes for his son to become a lawyer or senator, taking on a more prestigious and “legitimate” profession than his own.
But as a bloody mob war forces Michael to take his father’s place and fight for his family, we see him transform from a decorated war hero to an even more ruthless leader than his father was.
12. Salt Houses by Hala Alyan
This novel follows three generations of a Palestinian family, from the Six-Day War of 1967 to 1990 Kuwait, all the way to Beirut, Paris, and Boston.
The story opens on the day of Alia’s wedding, when her mother, Salma, reads her future in a cup of coffee dregs, seeing both turmoil and travel.
While Salma keeps her premonitions to herself, they all come true as the family is uprooted by war and loss.
More Books About Family Secrets
Family sagas can take the form of historical fiction, thrillers, or pretty much any other fictional genre.
What makes them so relatable, though, is how they explore the complex and often complicated relationships between family members. If you love books about multigenerational drama, check out these books by Jodi Picoult or our favorite books like Sharp Objects.
Do you have a favorite family saga? Tell us about it in the comments below!
If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:
- 10 Best Jodi Picoult Books Full of Family Drama
- 20 Best Book Club Books to Share and Discuss with Your Group
- 9 Must-Read Elena Ferrante Books
- 10 Books Like Sharp Objects That Deliver Psychological Thrills
As a blog writer for TCK Publishing, Kaelyn loves crafting fun and helpful content for writers, readers, and creative minds alike. She has a degree in International Affairs with a minor in Italian Studies, but her true passion has always been writing. Working remotely allows her to do even more of the things she loves, like traveling, cooking, and spending time with her family.
