This is interesting, although I did find it slow going at times. It’s about Newton’s explorations with family history, genetic testing, and genealogy. She also deals with the history of British-Americans like herself, and how it was reflected in individual members of her clan. In her study of family history, she came across a lot of racism, and she writes extensively about coming to terms with that.

I most appreciated the personal parts of her story. There’s some vivid family history here, and she writes about how family patterns were repeated in her own life. She also throws in a lot of information about cultural approaches to genetics, and sometimes these drag a bit. I often felt like she was distancing herself from the more personal material, and, as a reader, I felt distanced as well.

In the last few chapters, she writes about ancestor worship, as it’s practiced in many other cultures. She herself tried some formal methods of getting in touch with ancestors and healing ancestral wounds. The writing is dispassionate, clear, and thorough.