Family Tree: Review

Family Tree

By Barbara Delinsky

When Dana and Hugh Clarke's baby is born into their wealthy, white New England seaside community, the baby's unmistakably African-American features puzzle her thoroughly Anglo-looking parents. Hugh's family pedigree extends back to the Mayflower, and his historian father has made a career of tracing the esteemed Clarke family genealogy, which does not include African-Americans. Dana's mother died when Dana was a child, and Dana never knew her father: she matter-of-factly figures that baby Lizzie's features must hark back to her little-known past. Hugh, a lawyer who has always passionately defended his minority clients, finds his liberal beliefs don't run very deep and demands a paternity test to rule out the possibility of infidelity. By the time the Clarkes have uncovered the tangled roots of their family trees, more than one skeleton has been unearthed, and the couple's relationship—not to mention their family loyalty—has been severely tested.

My Thoughts:
From the moment I started this book I was captivated. As a mother I too wanted to protect the most innocent character in this book, the baby. Barbara Delinsky did a great job making the emotions in the book seem real and I truly felt every one of them. While I was reading I would lose myself in the in the mess that came with the birth of this child. Secrets that had been kept hidden for years were forced in the open, peoples character were in question. The only thing negative was that this story had to end.

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