The family saga is a genre of literature which chronicles the lives and doings of a family or a number of related or interconnected families over a period of time. In novels (or sometimes sequences of novels) with a serious intent, this is often a thematic device used to portray particularly historical events, changes of social circumstances, or the ebb and flow of fortunes from a multiplicity of perspectives.

The typical family saga follows generations of a family through a period of history in a series of novels. A number of sub-genres of the form exist such as the AGA saga.

Successful writers of popular family sagas include Susan Howatch, R. F. Delderfield and Philippa Carr.

Examples of family sagas of literary note include:

• Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
• Buddenbrooks - Thomas Mann
• The Forsyte Saga - John Galsworthy
• Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin
• The House of the Spirits by Isabelle Allende
• Jalna books of Mazo de la Roche
• The Kent Family Chronicles and The Crown Family Saga - John Jakes
• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• Roots - Alex Haley

In cinema:

• The Best of Youth , La Meglio gioventù

See also

• Family life in literature