Inspired by real, hundred-year-old love letters.My great-grandmother’s name is bold across the cream envelope, now golden at the seams with age. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen graceful, purposeful handwriting with a fountain pen and not the hasty scrawl of ballpoint.Alice Hirshhorn, Astoria Hotel, Seattle Washington.“Letters to Great-grandma Alice,” I say with wonder, tracing my fingers … Alice,” I say with wonder, tracing my fingers over the faded postmark and foreign stamps.
December 1915. Philippine Islands.
I turn the thick envelope in my palm, slide out the tightly folded pages, and unfold the thin paper, taking care not to tear the letters that were important enough to keep for a century.
My dearest Alice
“Great-grandpa was in the Philippines?” I ask.
“Oh no. Not your great-grandfather,” answers Grammie, her eyes twinkling with her mother’s secrets. “Elliott.”
~~~
At thirty-three and with her future unclear, Ali Waller finds her way home again. A box of long-forgotten love letters written to her great-grandmother holds the unlikely key to Ali finding her new path.
As she tracks down the letter writer and his descendants, Ali learns the magic of love, hope, and resilience.
Told by three characters, and across century and an ocean, Genealogy is an enchanting story about love and loss, taking chances, and embracing the surprises that life brings.
A twelve-question discussion guide is included, making Genealogy a perfect choice for your book club or a buddy read.
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Joy, heartbreak, and love captured in ink. Letters of a bygone era, when words promised and beckoned. The background which leads into Ali and Ben’s story was nothing short of magical for me. I loved every word. The way the author allowed the past and present to merge and enfold was perfect. Beautifully told, elegantly styled.
An epic journey of life and love – timeless and beautiful.
I finished this book just a little while ago and I already know that this is a book I will obsess about and think about for a very long time, because the story was inspired by real life letters the author found that belonged to her Great-Grandmother. Any time I read anything that is based on real life I can’t stop thinking about what happened after the book finished.
I loved how Mae wrote this story, part of it taking place in present day and the rest taking place in the past with letters going back and forth between the two protagonists. I loved seeing what the world was like in the early 1900’s, how much simpler it truly was. It really made me think back to the days when letter writing was the norm and it took weeks or months for it to arrive at its intended destination. It also made me think long and hard about what Alice and Elliott dealt with as far as keeping their spirits and hopes up in between receiving those letters.
Meanwhile in the present day, Ali is dealing with some life changing decisions of her own that she is grappling with. And it is through reading these letters from Elliott to Alice that helps her take stock of herself and help her make some important changes to the path she has been on.
I’m not gonna lie – I bawled my eyes out reading this book. BUT – I am a menopausal woman whose emotions ride a rollercoaster on a daily basis, so take my statement with a grain of salt. I don’t want to scare people away from reading this story with my bawling claim, because it truly is a masterful piece of literature that will leave an impact on whoever reads it. This book really takes you on a journey, and it is not to be missed.
OH! After you’ve finished the book, make sure to download the companion Love, Elliott. I could sit and read Elliott’s letters forever. They are beautiful.
I had the pleasure of reading an early copy of Genealogy and it’s absolutely beautiful. Do yourself a favor and read this well-written, heart-wrenching love story that spans a century.
Mae Wood has crafted a beautiful masterpiece that spans oceans and generations. It touches on war and loss, love and life, and hopes and dreams. It weaves its way effortlessly through timelines to create a stunningly written story filled with bittersweet connections.
Mae told me this book wasn’t romance, but I have to disagree.
I fell in love with each character, each couple and each life story. I yearned. I swallowed down tears, and I smiled big.
If that’s not romance, then I don’t know what is.
Genealogy is perfection.
Trust me when I say, you need this story in your life.
Genealogy has secured a place in my top 10 books of 2018!
I know I’ve talked to you about Mae Wood’s books before and I’ve told you to read them because they’re smart and real and sexy and lovely but Mae’s newest, GENEALOGY, is different.
You need to read this book but for entirely different reasons. Those reasons from before — take them and set them aside because this is not the same thing. I’m going to attempt to articulate them now but please know I’m still staggered by the beauty and emotional journey of this book.
Also know I don’t write hands-warmed-up reviews unless I love a book all the way through. I wouldn’t say any of this if I didn’t mean it without qualification.
Here we go.
You need to read this book because it’s an EPIC LOVE STORY. If you like the epic love of The Notebook, you’ll enjoy this. This novel spans more than one hundred years, half the globe, and four generations.
I’m sure you’re now thinking, Okay so, one hundred years, four generations….how-what? This novel introduces us to Ali, a woman who discovers (in present day) love letters her great-grandmother received from a man. But her great-grandmother didn’t marry that man.
From that discovery, we embark on a rose-vine journey that unfolds itself in heart-squeezing letters between Ali’s great-grandmother and the man she didn’t marry….and then, we meet the one she did marry. But it’s not only the story of Ali’s ancestors. It’s her story too. It’s subtle and gentle, but it’s–it’s quietly beautiful.
When I say epic, I mean the in the most profound sense of the word. It’s heart-twisting, heart-melting, and heart-breaking — IN THE BEST WAYS.
You need to read this book because it has ALL.THE.FEELS. I am not an ugly cry reader. I don’t go looking for books with angst or heartache or any of those things. And I would not call this book an ugly cry or an angsty read but it IS emotional and it achieves that emotion in such a restrained manner. It’s written in a way that you’re right there with the characters, experiencing these things with them, and you feel all the feels. It’s not overwritten, it’s not sensationalized or dramatized… it’s real and true, and that makes it arrestingly powerful.
And you need this book because it asks — without actually asking — what if you discovered yourself by discovering your ancestors? There’s a gravity to this book, something that settles around you and makes you wonder about the people who came before you. Who they were and what they thought and how they lived and how they made their ways. And how they were so different but not at all, not really.
And that thread of family and place that weaves us together, what happens when you tug it a bit?
You need to read this book. If you saw my note in today’s newsletter, I’d put that on a t-shirt if I wore t-shirts. I’m thinking about handing paperbacks out on Halloween. My mother is getting a copy, that’s for sure.
So, read it. And come talk to me. I would enjoy that <3
Some pertinent information:
This is a women's fiction novel. While it's a love story (multiple love stories, actually), it's not a romance novel. And I swear to you on all good things, that is not a detriment to the story. Women's fiction moves at a different trajectory and creates a different arc than romance.
There is a happy ever after. More than one. There's also some heartbreak. I think I've mentioned that 😉 But it's a happy ever after. It's an emotionally satisfying conclusion. And I want to talk about it with everyone.
Genealogy is a story that beautifully blends historical and contemporary romance. I read this book from beginning to end in less than a day!
“His heart tightens as the illusion of their proximity shimmers and breaks. They are so far apart, both in space and time. The thousands of miles he swore to bridge with his letters…”
Ali discovers letters written to her great grandmother Alice. Letters that reveal an epic love story. With those letters the author takes us on a journey through time to early 1900’s and gives us a real feel for the time and places.
“Sometimes love burns slowly like a smoldering coal and sometimes it’s a flaming forest fire.”
Woven into this tale is Ali’s story that is a wonderful contemporary romance. It gives us all the feels from heartbreak to humor. A slow burn that had me turning pages and unable put my book down.
-5 Stars!-
Well developed characters, the story holds the reader’s interest.
This was a great story! It provided a history of the time wrapped around two love stories in different times and places!
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Recently returned from Vietnam and appreciated the section that dealt with the Tet offensive and the effect on those involved.
Epic, swoony, emotional. This book tells the story of a couple (Alice and Elliott) from the turn of the century — through 100-year-old love letters. But it’s also about Ali and Ben, a modern-day couple, who meet through the most beautiful circumstances. It transcends this genre — it’s romance, women’s fiction, historical fiction…I loved it.
Whether you devour it in one sitting or savor it over several, there is no doubt Mae Wood’s Genealogy will leave an indelible impression on your heart. An absolute masterpiece and a must-read.
Genealogy was an interesting and intriguing book,slightely different from what I usually read.
I have to be honest it was a slow read for me at the beginning but after a few chapters I chaged my mind and I was hooked.
Mae Wood did an amazing work,perfectly interwining past and present.
The characters were portrayed so well I could easily understand their feelings, their actions and their choices,even if they lived so many years before my birth.
I have enoyed this journey, the curiousity of the research of a family roots and the discovery of a past we never imagined.
I won’t be accurate about the plot because I don’t want to rob you of this experience.
This book will stay with you long after you’ve finished it.I recommend to get it as soon as possible.
Genealogy is one of the best books I’ve ever read. I have to admit this is my usual read, I have read other books by Mae Wood and enjoyed them but this book is in a whole different class. The story grabbed me from the first page. Alice and Elliott’s friendship (love story) was a beautiful telling of another time in our history, a different way of life. The letters were beautiful and heart-wrenching, the wanting and the time spent just waiting. The characters in this tale were wonderful all had such depth. Ali was my favorite of course, witty, kind and caring. I really felt the love she had for her family and her yearning for a real true love, that special connection. The bond Ali formed with Ben was slow, but as with Alice and Elliott’s letters the texts and emails they shared connected them. I believe this was fate, two souls, in heaven guiding them. This such an awesome book everyone needs to read it. (I was secretly hoping Ali took the job in Bakersfield because that’s my hometown) Wish I could give this more than five stars.
Genealogy, a novel is utterly wonderful. This beautifully-written book grabbed my heart from the very first pages and I honestly didn’t want it to end. Mae Wood is a new-to-me author and I absolutely loved her style of storytelling. Her characters are rich and full of life and I felt as if I was right there with Ali as she discovers her great-grandmother’s secrets and the love that she never forgot.
With the help of long forgotten love letters (hidden in her grandmother’s sideboard), Ali enters the early 1900’s as she reads about the woman who found her heart’s desire on a train and savored the 5 short days they were together. The ensuing 3 years of correspondence that tried hard to keep the fire burning between them was full of early hope and then deep heartbreak as the world around Alice and her beloved Elliott continued to play havoc with their plans to be together. I was completely enraptured by their detailed letters to one another and I loved that the Author perfectly painted a picture about their lives back in the early 20th century. It wasn’t hard to imagine just what they were writing about.
For me, what makes this book even more engaging than just discovering Ali’s namesake’s past was that the Author also uses the letters as a sort of springboard to the possibility of allowing the chance for Ali to find her own happiness. Her desire to find Elliott’s family brings forth a few welcomed surprises even as her cherished Grammie is losing her own light in the world. There is even a very sharp humor between Ali, her bestie in Caroline and the mysterious Ben Copley that provides a bit of levity when this whole letters project becomes a bit overwhelming. Add to that, Ali’s employment being in limbo and she definitely needs as much laughter as possible.
Genealogy, a novel is the kind of story I love to get lost in and I did, oh so happily. Mae Wood kept me captivated and begging for more as each chapter ended and I honestly could have read about Ali and her ever-expanding world for another 100 pages, it is that good.
For a change of pace and the promise of a love that is life-changing for everyone involved, I can’t recommend Genealogy highly enough and therefore give it a huge 5 stars!
I can’t put into words how much I loved this book! Mae Wood has crafted such an inspirational story of love and loss, but picking yourself up to reach for your dreams! I loved how the story was told through Ali finding old love letters between her great-grandmother, Alice, and Elliot. It was so different- and that is definitely part of what had me gravitate toward Geneology!
I cannot express how much I recommend this book!
“Marry me. Because when the ground gives way under my feet again, I don’t want to have been the man who sent you pink roses, too afraid to buy the red ones that I wanted to give you.”
This was my first read of Mae Wood, and now, I need to go gobble up everything else she’s written. This story was just beautiful! If you ever doubted how one decision can forever alter the universe, doubt no more!!
Ali Waller had her life planned out. A coveted position at one of the best hospitals in California, a home with an ocean view, and marrying the man of her dreams. So how did she end up back in Kansas City with none of the above? At one time she knew exactly what she wanted, but now, she’s not even sure who she is. A box of century old love letters, written by mystery man to her great-grandmother, Alice, leads Ali on a journey, that not only brings her insight in to the life of the woman she never had the opportunity to meet, but brings love, hope and adventure to her future.
I loved that the reader gets the full story from three different perspectives. Elliot, the mystery man, pours his heart out to Alice in these letters, written to her from an ocean away after meeting her on a train bound for Seattle. His love never wavered and he tried so hard to get to her. You also get the romance story from Alice’s point of view. How she longed for him to return to her and how difficult it was to be separated from one another. Plus, you get Ali’s point of view and what’s happening in her life and how Alice’s story affected her and the path she finally chooses.
All I have to say is that after reading this, I wanted to search the sideboard my grandmother gave me for hidden drawers. Could she have had a secret stash of letters? Did she have a secret lover in her life too? Alas, no hidden drawers but my Grandma was amazing anyway!
I would highly recommend this one to anyone who believes in love. If you don’t believe in love, read it anyway. You’ll be a believer by the end, trust me. Have the tissues handy for both the sad and happy tears that are bound to fall.
Beautifully bittersweet
Every now and again a book comes along that stops me dead in my tracks. I can’t move on from the feelings elicited, the words drummed into my heart. This is one of those books.
Genealogy is a big book. Big in heart, soul, and intent. Swirling in and out through generations, continents, and world wars; this story is bound together by a constant ribbon of correspondence. Heartfelt, lovely, earthy, bittersweet, deliberate correspondence by the star-crossed Elliott and Alice. I fell in love with them, and their story, and their descendants. This book will remain in my heart for a long time to come.
Warning – once you start this book you will not be able to put it down! WOW! Mae Wood is an amazingly talented author, but Genealogy may be my new favorite of hers! Two love stories in one epic book! This book has all the feels and I just could not get enough!! FIVE STARS!
You need to read this book. You need to fall in love with Alice, Elliott, Ali, XZY, Grammie, ABCD. (Letters for names as to not spoil)
This book spans 100 yrs and multiple couples. It boggles my mind what just 100 yrs ago looked like. What love looked like, what distance can do to a couple, what we take for granted today (communication and transportation).
We meet Ali when she is cleaning out her Grammie’s house in prep for moving her to an assisted living facility. She comes across love letters written to her Great-Grandmother back in 1916. OH these love letters. My heart swooned for the love Elliott has for Alice. We get his (Elliott) POV. What a man. You want things differently, you want them HARD. But you know there would be no story if it went where you want it to. You have to trust Mae, and I know it’s hard, so freaking hard, but do trust her. She will take you through the wringer. Not #uglycry wringer, but very very close. Your anger will rise, you will message her with threats of harm for the hurt. But she will ask you to trust her and I’m asking you to trust me in trusting her. Ok I feel like Joey from Friends writing Monica and Chandlers vows.
There are good times, there are sad times, there are angry times.
You will not be able to read fast enough to see where the story goes, you’ll want to speed read, but also slow down at the same time to savor this amazing story.
This was my first book from Mae Woods and to be honest, it took me a little bit to get into it. Then all the sudden I was hooked! I was next to them, watching their story unfold! Such an emotional, amazing journey!
Genealogy followed Ali and the discovery of her great grandma Alice’s love letters and Ali’s journey while reading them. It was told by Ali in present day and by Alice and Elliot while the letters were being written.
It was captivating to read a 100 year old love story, to see how different the times were! I loved how both families came back together, love can conquer all! I really wanted to see more of Ali and Ben’s relationship, they were just as important to this story as Alice and Elliot!