Ancestry: A Novel

The New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Room brings a slice of his own family history to life through extensive research and rich storytelling.

Beginning with his great-great-grandfather Abraham Block, acclaimed novelist Simon Mawer sifts through evidence like an archaeologist, piecing together the stories of his ancestors. Illiterate and lacking opportunity in the bleak Suffolk village where his parents worked as agricultural laborers, Abraham leaves home at fifteen, in 1847. He ...