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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An enjoyable story, very readable.
This story was so captivating. I loaned the book to my sister since she is working on our family tree and she loved it as well. A great read!
The series of letters between the couple who are separated duŕing a war adds an element of suspense to a love story about a chànce meeting between two people on a train. The parallel story of the woman who is reading the letters while starting off on her own love adventure adds a dual plot to the story? The inclusion of travel inmthe historic setting lends suspense. Travel in the days before cars and airplànes is a much more adventuous undertaking than it is today. Placing the characters in a foreign country as civilians during wartime enriches the plot. As an American I have no perspective on what that would be likè. It took me to a dfferent place andmade me think about how fŕagile our lives are and how easily our destinies can turn on the whim of history’s events.
enjoyed, would recommend
I was able to read this wonderful book as a part of the Release Launch for my blog back in October. I blogged about its release, and read the book, but it affected me so emotionally that I was unable to write a review without taking some time to think about and reflect on this heart-warming and moving story. A few months have gone by, so it’s definitely past time.
This book is a lovely mix of past and present. It is a love story, without being what my daughters call one of my “shirtless man books.” Mae Wood normally writes books with some excellent sexy times, so when she started to talk about Genealogy, she warned her readers that this would be a different sort of book.
It was different, but it wasn’t. It had all the heart of a “sexy times” book by Mae Wood, but since it takes place in the early 1900s, there were no sexy times. It was a beautiful throwback to when a man courted a woman, when they wrote long handwritten letters that took weeks or months to arrive in the hands of their loved one. These letters are the foundation of this story, and the best part for me is that the letters in this book were based on real, hundred-year-old love letters.
I can’t say enough about this beautiful story. I love historical fiction, and origin stories, and time travel. This book is a bit of all three, and I was honored to be a part of the promotional team.
I just couldn’t get into the story at all for some reason. The writing is fine, it was just slow moving and not very interesting enough to keep me reading
I really enjoyed this book! It was meatier than most Kindle books I’ve downloaded recently, interesting story, interesting characters from different generations–well worth downloading!
Sweet story, likeable charcters, easy read.
Great book, fun read.
was not impressed
This book made me want to do more research of my family tree.
Don’t recommend it
Enjoyed the book
The story jumped around so much I lost interest.
I really enjoyed this book. The story line is one that is realistic and totally within today’s world of possibilities. You will love the people in this and want the best for them
A little unrealistic, but entertaining.
Great story showing how are lives are intertwined with our ancestors.
I enjoyed the way the author kept going back and forth between the letters and the present.
Loved it. Couldn’t put it down.
This book was great! The century old letters which were the central plot made me curious to find out more and I liked the was the author used them to have a secondary plot about the dependents in the current time. Well written and incredibly interesting.