These are independent reviews of the products mentioned, but TIME receives a commission when purchases are made through affiliate links at no additional cost to the purchaser.

In her captivating book, Maud Newton underlines just how much trouble ancestors can be. There’s the challenge of identifying them, the uncomfortable truths they might reveal about our origins, and even the difficulties that accompany dealing with certain prickly family members. Newton grew up fixated on the stories she heard about her own—the grandfather who’d been married 13 times, the mental illness that plagued her maternal lines—and decided to research her genealogy as an adult. She captures this journey in Ancestor Trouble: A Reckoning and a Reconciliation, which reckons with her messy family history. Along the way, she asks thought-provoking questions about identity and the impacts of intergenerational trauma. —Annabel Gutterman

Buy Now: Ancestor Trouble on Bookshop | Amazon

More Must-Reads from TIME

Contact us at letters@time.com.

Stay True
The Book of Goose
Mouth to Mouth
Vladimir
Life Between the Tides
5 stories
EDIT POST