The Recurring Cast
Character guide · 8 books · 1977 to 2007 · Mostly set in Rome

Colleen McCullough

Historical fictionLiterary and generalAncient worldFamily sagaFamily and book club

Colleen McCullough, an Australian neuroscientist turned novelist, wrote The Thorn Birds, a saga of the Cleary family on a New South Wales sheep station, and the Masters of Rome, seven meticulously researched novels about the fall of the Roman Republic.

Best estimate, compiled from series guides, publisher descriptions and reviews where available, and from memory otherwise. Book level only, not chapter level. Minor includes cameos and brief references. Each book carries a confidence rating in its tooltip. The Roman characters are real historical figures as portrayed in the novels.

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Who appears in which book

Click a name to follow that character from book to book, or a book title to see its cast.

LLeadMMajor·MinorHas a note
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Colleen McCullough books in order

Each series in publication order, with its lead characters. Where the story runs in a different order, switch to Story order. Crossover books are marked and listed under their main series. Use My books to track what you have read.

Masters of Rome

7 books · Set in RomeAncient worldFamily saga
  1. 1The First Man in Rome1990With Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius SullaBuy on Amazon
  2. 2The Grass Crown1991With Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius SullaBuy on Amazon
  3. 3Fortune's Favourites1993With Lucius Cornelius SullaBuy on Amazon
  4. 4Caesar's Women1996With Gaius Julius CaesarBuy on Amazon
  5. 5Caesar1997With Gaius Julius CaesarBuy on Amazon
  6. 6The October Horse2002With Gaius Julius CaesarBuy on Amazon
  7. 7Antony and Cleopatra2007With Octavian and Mark AntonyBuy on Amazon

Standalone

1 book · Set in the New South Wales outbackFamily sagaFamily and book club
  1. 1The Thorn Birds1977With Meggie Cleary and Father Ralph de BricassartBuy on Amazon

Characters

10 recurring and key characters, with the book each one first appears in.

The Roman Republic

The Thorn Birds