Abraham lives an impoverished life in Suffolk. He cannot read or write but he dreams of more and is finally apprenticed to become a seaman. Naomi has moved to London to become a dressmaker but fate has more in store. Ann and George are newly wed and living in Army barracks. The lives of these individuals in 1850s England will link through their families.
This is the story of Mawer's own ancestors, he has taken a few facts and written a gripping fictionalised account of their lives. The stories are wonderful, Abraham's life at sea and the difficulties faced by his family as news is often months late, George's adventures in the horror of the Crimean War. Of course there is a lot of literary licence taken to fill in the gaps but this is where Mawer's expertise as a novelist really shines. This is a wonderful book

What a wonderful book! This is the story of the author’s ancestors, told as mostly novel but part documentary.

This has been researched beautifully, not only the family history but the whole context of the time- yes the sights and smells but also the day to day mundane reality as well as the overarching spectre of social standing.

Extremely enjoyable, I did not want to put this down once I started reading.

Thank you to a Simon Mawer, Little, Brown and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

For anyone who is interested in their own ancestors, this is how their stories should be brought to life! Simon Mawer has taken the facts from the records mixed with knowledge of the social history and transformed these to a series of fascinating stories.

First of the great-grandparents living in the mid-nineteenth century are the illiterate Abraham Block, a sailor and young dressmaker Naomi Lulham, who is keen to put her life on a sure footing.. Next up we meet George and Ann Mawer. Their story takes us to the Crimea War and the realities of being a soldier at that time. The stories are fascinating and whilst the characters have been fleshed out, the real story isn't that of the author's grandparents, but the history that he so meticulously researched to make it so readily accessible using the vehicle of his own family history to entertain and inform the rest of us.

I really loved the idea of this book. I work researching family histories and have often imagined a life for people around what the records can tell us. So many parts of their story we can only imagine but never truly know.

The author has done this wonderfully with some of his own ancestors. Taking the dates and facts presented by census and historical records and breathing life into each individual. Transforming them from dry facts to a living breathing person with hope and dreams, disappointments and failures.

The story takes us from rural Suffolk to London to Barbados to the Crimea. Through grinding poverty and the horrors of war, the research not only into the lives of his ancestors but the events they lived through is excellent.

A really poignant portrait and a beautiful tribute to the ancestors

A book that gives a voice and a face to someone who was a name on paper or in the family history.
The author did an excellent job in developing these characters and this ia mix of historical fiction and history.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This book was not what I expected but it really drew me into the story and I was sorry when it ended. A story that puts flesh onto the bones of the authors family discovered through census returns, birth and death certificates. The book was very poignant and the horrors that the families lived through very real - grinding poverty, disease and war. I felt the author shone a spotlight on the strength of the women in the story and how they held their families together in some terrible times. I often forgot that I was reading a history of the authors family and learn so much. It is my first book by this author but definitely will not be my last. I highly recommend it. Many thanks to NetGalley, Little Brown Book Group UK and the author for the ARC in return for an honest review.

When I first started this book I wasn’t sure what to expect. We all love a bit of ancestry and I have to say I enjoyed the book and it’s finds. from history, I can certainly recommend this book.
Thanks to NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group UK for the early read

Stories to bring alive the dry facts from census returns, birth, marriage and death certificates. An intriguing premise and one that I've often pondered in my own family history research. Why did one umpteenth great cousin leave wife and children, go to America with a neighbour, set up a new family there and then returned 10 years later to pick up with first family? The author's family had equal intrigues with the two main characters, George and Annie, living out their lives before, during and after the Crimea. Annie especially was mysterious - born in Ireland, hoping for a new life in London, got the baby but not the life, marries George and follows him from posting to posting until he's sent to the Crimea. She's on her own with 3 children, another on the way and a life of deprivation and toil. George is killed. She's resilient though and comes through in the end by various means, changes of name and the like. Descriptions of life in London and Sevastopol are equally horrific and heart breaking but their spirits shine through to the end. A nice premise and a good read. Thanks to NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group UK for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book, it was well written with a gripping storyline and well developed characters. the book was full of vivid descriptions and rich imagery so I vould easily have slipped into the pages and known where I was. It was a good read.