A Broken Tree

How DNA Exposed a Family’s Secrets

By: Stephen F. Anderson

Narrated by: David Marantz

Length: 5 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

All families have stories and all families have secrets. Some stories can be hidden forever. Others come out over time, or suddenly through revelation. With the advent of easy to obtain and cheap DNA kits, more and more people are stumbling across biological secrets they never suspected, sometimes with happy outcomes, but sometimes with shocking results.

In this book, the author provides a real-life example of the shocking revelations and aftermath of DNA investigation. Growing up as one of nine children, Stephen Anderson suspected from a young age that something was amiss. A chance accident, and a small crack in the history of his family broke open. More would come to be revealed as the author sets out on a journey to find answers to his questions. Any listener wondering what a DNA test might reveal will find here one extreme example of family secrets gone awry. As each member learns more about his or her own identity, new family members pop up, fade out, or pass away before relationships can be established or even revealed.

More and more people are undergoing DNA tests and seeking to find long lost relatives though ancestry searches. What they find might upturn all their shared assumptions about family, identity, belonging, and history. Join Stephen as he uncovers his own family’s secrets, the impact they’ve had on his life and his family’s, and what they are all doing now to heal fresh wounds.

©2019 Stephen F. Anderson (P)2019 Blackstone Publishing

In Depth & Personal

what and excellent personal narrative about DNA findings with the good and not so good.

Poor narrator

This tragic family story was narrated poorly making it difficult to delineate between poor writing and poor narration or a unique combination of both.

Loved

I loved this book. It was such a fun roller coaster and it’s all true!

My Family Tree

A life story of my family I never knew. A bit disturbing but definitely an eye opener.

Be careful what you think you know

This is a story that starts out so simple and ends up proving truth is stranger than fiction. Well worth the time spent listening.

eye opening

The book was fascinating! I loved the author's perspectives toward the end on forgiveness and family stories.

Fascinating story, average telling

The story is interesting but the question and answer segment at the end is a bit drawn out.

interesting read

A bit repetitive in spots but ,a very interesting story and good read. A very compelling and timely story raising some interesting issues with DNA research.

Fascinating story, poorly told

The author's family story is fascinating and shows the power of genetic DNA to unravel family secrets. However, as other reviewers have noted, the monotone narration of this books is difficult to listen to for very long. I would add that the writing is extremely redundant. The author repeats the same information dozens of times and uses some phrasing over and over. This book could have benefited from a good editor. Eliminating all the repetition could have shorted the book 20% at least. That said, n the hands of a good writer this story could be a best seller or hit TV miniseries.

A monotone account of a weird family

The story of the Anderson family is, to put it bluntly, weird. While it is not uncommon for a child not to be the offspring of his/her parents (i.e., not an adoption, but a “scandalous” secret), the extent of the mother’s infidelity is truly, truly amazing. I applaud the author’s investigative skills and willingness to use DNA testing to unravel the truth in this situation. Unfortunately, the story is told in a purely linear fashion, one event after another, which does not lend itself very well to suspense or drama. After the first or second reveal, it’s obvious what will occur in the rest of the story. A complicating factor in this book is the fact that the author has to continually refer to the DNA testing, which gets tedious after a while. The other downside the book has is its narration, which is downright painful. I’m honestly not sure whether I recommend this book or not.