Shared histories, simmering resentments and decades-old secrets that, more often than not, refuse to stay buried – there is something uniquely compelling about a great family saga. Bestselling and prize-winning author Anna Hope knows this all too well; her latest novel, Albion, unfolds over one long summer weekend as multiple generations gather in the Sussex countryside and tensions begin to surface. But Hope is also a great reader of family dramas herself. Here, she shares the five novels that do it best…
Brother of the More Famous Jack by Barbara Trapido
Brother of the More Famous Jack by Barbara Trapido follows the Goldmans (Photo: Bloomsbury)
“For me, this is the motherlode. The clan in question is the Goldmans; the sprawling, arty, sweary aristo-intellectual family who live in a crumbling house in Sussex, and whose lethally charismatic members captivate Katherine, our heroine, and the reader in turn.
“I read it when I was in my late teens, the same age as Katherine at the start of the book. Like Katherine, I was longing for wider horizons and a different sort of life. When I turned back to it in my thirties, though, I realised it was so much more than a book about becoming and self-making – it is also a profound and moving work about how we recover from terrible personal loss.”
