The Family Tree - Carole Cadwalladr

Three generations of women make their way through the obstacles that life throws at you - yet another family saga, I thought. But no, this book is so much more. The family saga is done brilliantly well; the reader moves effortlessly between generations and decades as if reminiscing - without any of that lurching time-shift that you so often get with books of this kind. I loved the pseudo thesis style too, with frequent dictionary definitions used to break the text up into numbered sections, and witty descriptions of 1970’s tv programmes as footnotes in the style of a cultural studies thesis. But the best thing about it is the story itself, as it is slowly ...  Read the complete review