The fictional family that has finally made the leap from book to film is the Warrens - the parents, three sons and a daughter.

Because the main characters in New York are members of the fictional families, the story lines sometimes take the reader away from the city.

There can't be many fictional families that have started off in such a state of harassment and distress.

The ambivalent children in their fictional families try to run away from home even as they yearn toward it.

Aleksandr's fictional family is described as having lived in Moscow for many generations.

The Picos - a fictional family created for a series of columns in the letters page.

"The parents aren't divorced, just separated, so there is always hope that they might get back together," said Ashley of her fictional family.

In these fictional families, neither innocence nor wisdom is the private property of any age group, though adults usually lack both.

But just as human beings have a habit of doing, some members of my fictional family went their own ways, too.

They are gone now, like Wilder's fictional families, and have taken up residence in the old cemeteries of the village.