Something last night…

Something last night drove me to re-read a particular book -- but I couldn't decide if the one I wanted was Nina Kiriki Hoffman​'s The Thread That Binds the Bones or John Crowley​'s Little, Big. So I read the Hoffman last night, and am reading the Crowley now. They start in remarkably similar ways -- a stranger meets a woman from a mysterious family, and they marry, and strange things happen.

But the two books go in completely different directions, and are, of course, told in completely different styles. And my current novel opens with a woman marrying into a mysterious family (except she's marrying three strangers, not just one). Also, no magical beings, but yes, genetic engineering.

Was I influenced by these two books, on some level? Or is this a common / universal human theme? Just pondering tropes. :-)