Families in literature
For Christmas, Guardian writers choose the best books about the traditional stars of this season
Families in literature: the Mortmains in I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
This portrait of ruined aristrocracy uncovers a common truth of family life: ‘the capacity to love and loathe in the same breath’
Families in literature: The Clocks in The Borrowers by Mary Norton
Maev Kennedy: When I read it, the fantastic story of the miniature folk squirrelling away humans’ possessions seemed very real
Families in literature: The Lisbons in The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
Emma-Lee Moss: The doomed sisters in this novel reveal much about the not always comfortable – but profound – nature of sibling love
Families in literature: the Tulls in Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler
By exploring the very different experiences of one household, this novel throws up some universal truths, writes Lindesay Irvine
Families in literature: the Bagthorpes in The Bagthorpe Saga by Helen Cresswell
This eccentric bunch of bickering Bohemians are far from a cosy clan, but their feuds and crises make for hilarious reading, says Sarah Crown
Families in literature: the Lamberts in The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
Sam Jordison: For all their evasions, their enmities and their missed messages, this is a family redeemed by love
Families in literature: the Jarndyces in Bleak House by Charles Dickens
If you’re tempted to despair of your own family this Christmas, turn to Dickens for a reminder that it could be a whole lot worse, says reader Daniel Gooding
Families in literature: the McHoans in The Crow Road by Iain Banks
Maxton Walker: This story of an eccentric Scottish family is outwardly more conventional than many Banks books, but 25 years on its central mystery remains compelling
Families in literature: The Joads in The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
For all that he wanted to “rip a reader’s nerves to shreds’, Steinbeck’s tale of a drought-stricken farmers makes an enduring case for the extended family
Families in literature: Travels with My Aunt by Graham Greene
An adventurous aunt opens the door to a brand-new family in Greene’s classic, writes Tash Banks
Families in literature: The Mouse and His Child by Russell Hoban
A father and son dance around the family ties which bind us all together – even though they’re only clockwork rodents
Why the Moomins are fiction’s perfect family
Tove Jansson’s Finnish troll creations have beguiling adventures with a host of strange characters. But, at heart, their strength comes from being a loving family, writes Stuart Kelly
Families in literature: The Nightingales in People for Lunch by Georgina Hammick
If ever there was a cautionary tale for Christmas it’s this classic story of a bereaved family preparing to host a meal for unwanted guests
Families in Literature: the Flytes in Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
The narrator of Waugh’s masterpiece falls in love not with a person, but with a whole family and their privileged way of life, writes Moira Redmond
Families in literature: the March sisters in Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Veronica Horwell: This classic portrait of an American family living in genteel poverty throws a comfortable quilt over the hardships of Alcott’s own childhood
Families in literature: finding relations in Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg
Margaret Holborn: A heartwarming tale of Alabama life finds an unconventional family in the community of Lost River
Families in literature: The Chance and Hazard twins in Wise Children by Angela Carter
With its five sets of twins, its mistaken identities and its unlikely coincidences, Carter’s final novel puts the magic into family life, writes Kit Buchan
Families in literature: Lily Bloom in How the Dead Live by Will Self
Critics slammed Self’s blackly comic extravaganza about an angry matriarch stuck in the afterlife - but it’s one of the most piercing portraits of maternal love I have read, writes Claire Armitstead
Families in literature: the Winshaws in What a Carve Up! by Jonathan Coe
A banker, an arms dealer, a corrupt politician and a tabloid hack... Justine Jordan begins our new seasonal series with the despicable dynasty from Coe’s 1994 black comedy about privilege and greed
