Top ten fictional families

Simon Mason's books for children include: The Quigleys, The Quigleys at Large, The Quigleys Not for Sale and The Quigleys in a Spin. He has also written three adult novels and The Rough Guide to Classic Novels. His latest book is Moon Pie.

At the Guardian, he named his top ten fictional families, including:

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Read one way, it's a classic love story; read another, it's the story of an exploding family: a fabulous spectacle of tears and laughter. As Mrs Bennet dreams of her daughters' marriages, and Mr Bennet hides in his library, the Bennet sisters fly out of control. Fantastic rudeness, love at first sight, hair-pulling jealousy, sullen moping and the world's least successful elopement ensue.

Read about the other families on the list.

Pride and Prejudice also appears on Catghy Cassidy top ten list of stories about sisters, Paul Murray's top ten list of wicked clerics, John Mullan's lists of ten great novels with terrible original titles and ten of the best visits to Brighton in literature, Luke Leitch's top ten list of the most successful literary sequels ever, and is one of the top ten works of literature according to Norman Mailer. Richard Price has never read it, but it is the book Mary Gordon cares most about sharing with her children.

The Page 99 Test: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

--Marshal Zeringue