Monday, August 31, 2015

Book Review: Lost Relations: fortunes of my family in Australia's Golden Age

“Genealogy offers a gateway into an extended family, linked vertically through time rather than horizontally in the present.  In a world of confused and multiple identities, it promises a deeper sense of who we are.”
Historian Graeme Davison has written the saga of his family in the recently published: Lost Relations: fortunes of my family in Australia’sGolden Age”.   His family’s history is similar to many, with origins in England, family seeking new beginnings, part of an exodus to Australia helping to shape the country we know today.  The author has woven contextual and local history into the narrative of his ancestor’s lives, which you certainly would expect from an historian.  It greatly enriches the story he tells and is a great example for family historians endeavouring to tell their own stories.

Endnotes for each chapter are included at the back of the book, but only listed in a very general way.   It is lovely to see the author’s female ancestors being celebrated in the happy informal photograph showcased on the book cover.  This book is a terrific inspiration for any family history researcher to research and tell their family story. 

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