Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
– Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
Here’s something you may not know about me: part of my love of reading comes from the fact that I am unendingly nosy. I like being in people’s business, but that is not always terribly well received by those people who are mere acquaintances (or sometimes not even that). Long ago I transferred the worst of my nosy tendencies to the people in books, both fiction and non, focusing on those unhappy families between the pages.
These same tendencies have taken my love of reading and created within it a passion for historical fiction and upmarket women’s fiction. Both genres have strong focuses on the lives of people. In historical fiction, these lives often belong to real people. There are many wonderful biographies and historical accounts out there, and I enjoy those as well, but historical fiction tends to get deeper into the emotional lives and conflicts of its subjects, since it does not have to stick solely to verifiable fact. The historical fiction that can balance a high degree of historical accuracy with characters who are vibrantly alive draws me in immediately and keeps me rapt throughout. The best writers in the genre can create a rich historical tapestry even without writing about people who really existed, simply creating characters who are true to their time while still being easy for modern readers to relate to.
Women’s fiction may not be dealing with people who really lived, but with the modern setting, it often feels like you are reading about your friends and neighbors. The books I love the most have a strong voice and the authors know exactly who their characters are. I love a good family drama, when all (or at least most) of the family is so real that the reader can feel that he or she is in the living room with them. I enjoy being able to indulge in the pain and turmoil of others without having to feel bad, because they are fictional – and I love it even more if I feel bad anyway because these fictional people just seem so real.
So please, send me your unhappy families, historical or modern, real or not. I’m feeling nosy.
