I've already said that I love family sagas, especially if they have secrets that have been gathering dust in the heroes' memories for years, but suddenly start to surface. It's very interesting to unravel the tangle of family relationships, misunderstandings, try to solve family secrets, understand each hero. For me, it's always a fascinating read.
Today I will share with you interesting family sagas that I have read, maybe something will be useful to you too.
Lucinda Riley's “Seven Sisters” series
An eccentric rich man once adopted six girls from different parts of the world and named them after stars from the Pleiades constellation. He never found the seventh girl, whom he was supposed to bring back from his next journey, and her secret will also be revealed in the books.
It all starts with the father dying, leaving each of the sisters a message (a letter and the coordinates of their birthplaces) with which they can learn the secret of their past and the history of their ancestors.
The cycle includes 8 books, each of which tells the story of one of the sisters and is a separate family saga. And at the same time, this entire cycle is also one big family saga.
Kate Morton's books
What unites Kate Morton's books? Two timelines, family secrets, an old mansion, a subtly written love story. The writer has a simply wonderful style, unusual, which creates beautiful patterns from words. She describes the plot in great detail, sometimes it even seems excessive, but this is what allows you to immerse yourself in the story with your head. So you shouldn't expect dynamism from her books.
I have all the author's books, but I've only read three. So far, “The Watchmaker's Daughter” has touched me the most. I recommend it to all lovers of gripping, beautifully written stories with family secrets.
Anne Patchett “The Dutch House”
The book is written in the form of a memoir. The main character, Denis, remembering the past, tries to make sense of what happened in his family.
The plot centers on a brother and sister, Dani and Maeve, who were abandoned by their mother at an early age, and the children were left to live with their father in a huge Dutch house.
One day, the father brought a strange woman named Andrea into the house, who the children did not like at first, but in the future she became their stepmother.
Buying the Dutch house was a huge mistake. Some were dazzled and enchanted by it, while others were repelled by it. But all the characters became victims of this house, which brought only trouble to their family.
Throughout the book, I was tormented by two questions: why did their mother leave them and why did their father marry Andrea? These questions tormented both Dani and Maeve. As I read, the situation becomes clearer and clearer.
“The Dutch House” is a novel about the fate of people, about mental trauma, and the ability to forgive. I read and tried to understand the actions of the characters, to understand whether they can be justified. Can a mother be justified who abandoned her children, choosing her destiny? Can a father be justified who made an absolutely stupid decision that led to a tragedy? Can a stepmother be justified who deprived the children of their home, which connected them to their childhood and parents? You can think endlessly, but it is impossible to come to a final conclusion, because there are two sides to the coin.
Isabel Allende “Violet”
The novel is a spiritual testament of the main character, Violetta. At the end of her life, she turns to her grandson and tells him about her bright, passionate and tragic life, similar to a real novel.
Violetta lived a whole century: she was born in 1920 during the Spanish flu pandemic, and died in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic. The heroine witnessed many important, turning-point historical events that marked several eras: wars, the Great Depression, the dictatorship regime, the rise and fall of tyrants, the struggle for women's rights. Against the background of these global problems, her personal tragedies also unfold: the ruin of the family, the first marriage not for love, domestic violence, codependent relationships, the deaths of loved ones. Violetta had many trials, but, being a strong personality, she steadfastly withstood many tragedies.
Colin McCullough “Those Who Sing in the Thorns”
I read the novel back in my school days, so I've forgotten a lot. But I remember very well the vivid impressions, the sleepless summer nights with a book in my hands, which is why I want to reread this work, to look at it in a new way.
The novel's plot spans almost 55 years (from 1915 to 1969) and reveals the fates of three generations. The book is divided into seven parts, each of which characterizes one of the characters.
This is a novel about a young girl's forbidden love for a priest she has known since childhood. But the book is not only about love, but also about choice, because the priest has to choose: power, money, growth in the church hierarchy or a happy life with the girl he loves. That is, power or love? I remember very well how much this hero annoyed me and now I wonder how much my perception of the novel will change when I read it at a conscious age, when I have life experience behind me.
Джерело: ukr.media
