Complex sentence: The novel spans two millennia leading up to the present time and contains the families Ducket, Silversleeves, Bull, Barnikel, Carpenter, Meredith, and Penny.
Split into simpler sentences: The novel spans two millennia leading up to the present time. It contains the families Ducket, Silversleeves, Bull, Barnikel, Carpenter, Meredith, and Penny.