from the cover: "On the day Lady Diana married Prince Charles, Rebecca's mother locked herself in the bathroom of 24 Beech Drive and never came out. Was it because the holiday dinner didn't turned out just right? Because Rebecca's grandmother married her first cousin? Or was she simply, unalterably, unhappy? According to Rebecca's scientist husband, our genes control our fate, but Rebecca isn't so sure. Leaving everything to science allows little room for the events that shape our lives."

"A fast read that might be described as Helen Fielding meets Zadie Smith—takes an unusual spin on the nature versus nurture debate." —The Wall Street Journal"[Cadwalladr] has a careful, nuanced sense of place and purpose . . . She is fearless, wry, and compassionate." —San Francisco Chronicle

"Poignant and amusing . . . While some have labeled The Family Tree chick lit, don’t be fooled: In fact, this is lit that happens to be written by one very clever chick." —People

"Carole Cadwalladr blends several generations of love stories with an examination of genetics, family and pop culture as she attempts to get at the heart of why we are the way we are." —Publisher's Weekly

"[A] loving, spot-on portrayal of a late 1970s childhood.... Cadwalladr has produced an ambitious book, packed with funny, likeable characters.... [A] lively, rangy, and thoroughly entertaining novel." —Entertainment Weekly

"This is a poignant and intelligent first novel, in which vivid characters engage the reader to ponder the timeless themes of fate and choice in light of the science-influenced sensibilities of the twenty-first century." —Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of The Blank Slate and How the Mind Works.

this book is a proof copy

2005; 389 pages; 6" x 9" Paperback

donated by Michele Luna