A new novel THE SAXON CHRONICLE by Jane Ellen Swan is a book you will surely enjoy reading.  It is a historical novel about Germany in the style of Michener.  Vol. I - THE CAPITALISTS is the first volume of a planned trilogy and has recently been published by Vantage Press, Inc., New York.  This volume covers the period from AD 782 - 1582.  

It begins with the struggles of the ancient Saxons to resist the conquests of Charlemagne and continues through the Middle Ages, the Black Death, the Renaissance and the Reformation, ending with the astute merchants who became the first Capitalists, all told through the lives of several families, including the Bruns, von Sehnden and Stockman among others.

Although based on the author's own family history, she soon discovered that a genealogy is a mere skeleton, often nothing more than a list of names.  Who were these people?  What were their lives like?  What were their joys and sorrows?  Placing them in the context of the history of their period might suggest general things that could have affected their lives, thus fleshing out the skeleton a bit.  Furthermore, particularly in Germany, there are few if any records before the Thirty-Years War, although in some cases there is a rich oral tradition.