Sagas book series in reading order

by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

by Jeffrey Archer

by S. Block

Anna Jacobs writes historical sagas and romance set in England and Australia. Persons of Rank (1992) opens a catalogue of 114 books that reaches Hope Comes to Eastby End (2026), with Salem Street (1994), Ridge Hill (1996) and Our Lizzie (1999) among the early run. Family sagas name most of the series: the Gibson Family, the Kershaw Sisters, the Preston Family, the Michaels Family, the Blake Sisters and Swan River Saga, the Traders, Peppercorn Street, Rivenshaw, the Ellindale Saga, Larch Tree Lane and the Wiltshire Girls. Widows, inheritance and family life recur as subjects.

Jeffrey Archer

63 books• 11 series

Jeffrey Archer's 63 catalogued books cover novels, short stories, plays, children's books and prison diaries. The list opens with Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less (1976) and reaches Adam and Eve in 2026. The Clifton Chronicles, Kane and Abel and the Detective William Warwick novels are the main series; families, social class and English history supply the material.

Katie Flynn and Judith Saxton are both pen names of Judy Turner, whose books sold more than eight million copies before her death in January 2019 at the age of 82. The catalogue holds 98 titles from 1972 onward, the earliest carrying the Saxton name: Cousin to the Queen (1972), My Master Mariner (1974) and Princess In Waiting (1976). Family sagas set in wartime England and Liverpool dominate, through series such as Liverpool Sisters, the Neyler Quartet and the Rose Queen Trilogy. New titles keep appearing, with The Secret Child scheduled for 2027.

V.C. Andrews was the name used by Cleo Virginia Andrews (June 6, 1923 to December 19, 1986), an American novelist best known for Flowers in the Attic (1979). That novel led to four sequels and two film adaptations. The publisher never classed the books as Young Adult, yet their young protagonists have drawn teenage readers for decades. After Andrews died in 1986, a ghostwriter first hired to finish two incomplete manuscripts went on publishing new books under the V.C. Andrews name. The catalogue carries 108 books under that name from 1979 to 2025, across series such as Dollanganger, Casteel, Cutler, Landry, Logan and De Beers.

Dame Catherine Cookson (born Catherine Ann McMullen, 20 June 1906 to 11 June 1998) was a British novelist. A hard childhood in South Shields, North East England, shaped the novels and supplied their setting. By 2003 Cookson's books had sold an estimated 100 million copies, and 104 titles appeared under the Cookson name and two pen names. The catalogue records 112 books, from Kate Hannigan (1950) to The Rag Maid (2017). Series include Mary Ann Shaughnessy, the Bailey Chronicles, the Mallen Trilogy and the Hamilton Trilogy. Working-class life, family sagas and historical romance appear among the subject tags.

Dilly Court is an English author of historical fiction and family sagas, born in 1940, who also publishes as Lily Baxter. Court published a first book at the age of 65, and by 2023 the novels had sold more than four million copies. Fifty-five titles are catalogued from Mermaids Singing (2005) to The Midwinter Daughter (2026), with The Spring Bride scheduled for 2027. London, family life and social conditions are the standing subjects, and the books are long, at a median of 512 pages.

Across 194 catalogued books, Danielle Steel writes contemporary romance and family drama: love stories, marriages, widowhood and the turns that reshape a life. The run starts with Going Home (1973) and continues through Celebration, with 24 Hours scheduled for 2027. Steel's catalogue also holds children's picture books, short stories and non-fiction beside the standalone novels that make up most of it.

Mazo de la Roche

31 books• 2 series

Mazo de la Roche (1879–1961), born Maisie Louise Roche, was a Canadian writer. The Jalna novels, a chronicle of the Whiteoak family set at Jalna in Ontario, were among the most widely read series of their day, running from Jalna (1927) through Whiteoaks of Jalna (1929), Finch's Fortune (1931), The Master of Jalna (1933) and The Building of Jalna (1935). Thirty-one books are catalogued, plays among them, with family life and Canadian social history the standing subjects.

Barbara Taylor Bradford began in non-fiction, with Fashions That Please Him (1970) and a run of interior decorating guides, then wrote A Woman of Substance (1979) and the family sagas that followed. Businesswomen, inheritance and mothers and daughters are the standing subjects. 47 catalogued books include the Emma Harte and Harte Family sagas, Cavendon Hall, the House of Falconer and the Ravenscar novels. The Wonder of It All, published in 2023, closes the catalogue.

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles is a British novelist of historical, romance and mystery fiction, born 13 August 1948 at Shepherd's Bush, London. The first Harrod-Eagles novel was written in 1972, during university. Most books carry the author's own name, though Emma Woodhouse and Elizabeth Bennett have also served as pseudonyms, and several 1970s titles on file appear as Emma Woodhouse. The catalogue lists 115 books from 1974 to 2026, and series include Morland Dynasty, Bill Slider, War At Home, Ashmore Castle and the Kirov Trilogy. Deadly Force (2026) is the newest.

Annie Groves was one of several pen names used by Penelope Halsall (24 November 1946 - 31 December 2011), an English writer of more than 200 romance novels who also published as Caroline Courtney, Penny Jordan, Melinda Wright and Lydia Hitchcock. Halsall took the Groves name from her mother's maiden name and used it for historical romances; sales across the names pass 70 million copies. The catalogue lists 29 Annie Groves titles opening with Ellie Pride (2003), and entries dated after Halsall's death carry the run on to Three Sisters in the Snow (2025). Subjects on record include the Second World War of 1939-1945, England, London, family life, sagas and social customs.

Joss Wood writes contemporary romance, with catalogue subjects that include billionaires, workplace romance and romantic suspense. The 79 books run from She's So Over Him (2012) to For Business...or Pleasure (2026), and Hot Ghoul Summer is scheduled for 2027. Series include Ballantyne Billionaires, Love in Boston, Murphy International, Cape Town Tycoons, Pytheon Security and Halloween Town.

Rosie Clarke writes family sagas set in London and the English countryside, many of them running through the two world wars. Early titles appeared under the name Linda Sole, Lovers and Sinners (1992) among them. Fifty-six books are catalogued across the Mulberry Lane, Welcome To Harpers Emporium, Blackberry Farm, Dressmakers Alley, Workshop Girls and Women at War series, reaching Duty and Dreams at Harpers (2026), with Healing Hearts on Blackberry Farm scheduled for 2027.

Rosie Goodwin writes historical family sagas set in England, with recorded subjects covering the Second World War, social conditions, household employees and family life. The catalogue lists 51 books from The Bad Apple (2004) to Finding May, scheduled for 2027. Days of the Week, Precious Stones, Dilly's Story, Flower Girls and Claire McMullen are the series recorded, and a colouring-book strand sits alongside the novels.

Ellie Dean is a pen name of Tamara McKinley, an Australian-born author based in the south of England. The Cliffehaven books, also listed as Beach View Boarding House, carry the Dean name and have sold more than a million copies. The earlier Australian novels appeared as Tamara McKinley, from Matilda's Last Waltz (1999) through Jacaranda Vines (2001) and Undercurrents (2004) to Ocean Child (2010), alongside the Oceana Trilogy. The catalogue holds 36 titles reaching The Long Road Home (2026), with subjects covering the Second World War, England, Australia and family sagas.

Sagas set against the Second World War, family life and social conditions in England and Ireland make up the subjects attached to Anne Bennett's catalogue. The listing holds 22 books published between 1998 and 2021, opening with A Little Learning (1998) and closing with As Time Goes By (2021); Pack Up Your Troubles (2000), Danny Boy (2004), Daughter Of Mine (2005) and To Have and to Hold (2006) fall between. McCluskey Saga is the one series recorded, and no title has been added since 2021.

Edward Rutherfurd writes historical sagas that follow one place across centuries, through the families living in it. Sarum (1987) opens a catalogue of 9 titles, followed by Russka (1991), London (1997), The Forest (2000) and the Dublin Saga, published as Dublin: Foundation (2003) and Ireland: Awakening (2004). China, published in 2020, is the last catalogued title.

Small-town romance is Annie Rains's territory. Rains has 27 catalogued books published between 2015 and 2026, opening with Welcome to Forever (2015) and reaching Hometown Home Run (2026). The Sweetwater Springs, Somerset Lake, Blushing Bay, Hero's Welcome and Love In Bloom series carry most of them. Subject headings point to clean and wholesome romance, small town and rural settings in North Carolina, friendship and holiday stories.

Joanna Trollope

40 books• 3 series

Joanna Trollope (9 December 1943 to 11 December 2025) was an English writer who also published as Caroline Harvey. Parson Harding's Daughter, a Caroline Harvey novel, won the Romantic Novelists' Association's 1980 Romantic Novel of the Year Award. The catalogue lists 40 books from Eliza Stanhope (1978) to Mum & Dad (2020), including The Choir (1988). Subjects include history, romance, domestic fiction, family life, clergy and England. The Legacy Saga is Trollope's listed series.

John Galsworthy

78 books• 3 series

The Forsyte Saga made John Galsworthy's name: a trilogy about the Forsyte family, begun with The Man of Property in 1906 and completed over the following fifteen years. Galsworthy (1867-1933) was an English novelist and playwright, born into a prosperous upper-middle-class family and steered toward the law before turning to writing instead. Two further trilogies, A Modern Comedy and End of the Chapter, extended the sequence, and the Nobel Prize in Literature went to Galsworthy in 1932. The catalogue holds 78 titles, from Jocelyn in 1898 onward, including work issued under the name John Sinjohn; the 1920s were the densest decade.

Penny Vincenzi wrote long sagas of wealth, publishing and London society. The British novelist, born in 1939 and died in 2018, has 22 catalogued titles published between 1977 and 2017, from The Compleat Liar (1977) to At the Heart of It (2017). Spoils Of Time is her one catalogued series, and the Lytton family, rich people, married life and adultery run through the subject headings. Her novels are long, at a median of about 640 pages, and sales had passed seven million copies by 2014.

Catherine Mann is an American author of romance fiction and a winner of the Romance Writers of America RITA Award, with books at Berkley, Sourcebooks and Harlequin Desire. Mann holds a master's degree in theatre from UNC-Greensboro and a fine arts degree from the College of Charleston. The catalogue holds 87 books, from Grayson's Surrender (2002) to The Sweet Tea Odyssey (2026), and the 2010s are the heaviest decade. Wingman Warriors, Dark Ops, Elite Force, Alaskan Oil Barons, Top Dog Dude Ranch and Landis Brothers are among the series credited to Mann. Suspense, undercover operations and the United States Air Force appear in the subject records.

Debbie Macomber

245 books• 35 series

Debbie Macomber, born October 22, 1948, is an American author of romance novels and contemporary women's fiction. Six Macomber novels became made-for-TV movies, and the Cedar Cove novels became a television series of the same name, with Macomber serving as executive producer on the adaptations. Macomber won the first fan-voted Quill Award for romance in 2005 and holds a RITA Award and a lifetime achievement award from the Romance Writers of America. The catalogue counts 245 books between Starlight (1983) and A Date with Santa (2026). Series include Heart of Texas, Midnight Sons, Navy, Those Manning Men, Orchard Valley and Angels Everywhere.

Kate Atkinson

19 books• 6 series

Kate Atkinson is an English author of novels, plays and short stories, born 20 December 1951. The fiction spans historical, detective and family novels with postmodern and magical realist elements. Behind the Scenes at the Museum, the 1995 debut, won the Whitbread Book Award; Life After Life and A God in Ruins won the Costa Novel Award in 2013 and 2015. The Jackson Brodie detective series became the BBC One series Case Histories. The catalogue holds 19 books from 1995 to Our Noble Selves (2026), and a Todd Family series appears alongside Jackson Brodie.