The Lost Family
How DNA Testing Is Upending Who We Are Libby Copeland Abrams Press, 304 pages, £19.99
Libby Copeland, a journalist based in New York with an interest in genealogy, has written the engaging but sometimes disturbing book The Lost Family. She dissects the issues surrounding DNA testing for genealogy, raising awareness of how common it is to make unexpected discoveries about family and paternity. The central thread of the book is the case of Alice Collins Plebuch, a woman whose understanding of her family tree was completely unravelled by DNA testing.
Along the way, Copeland takes the opportunity to explore the ethical highways and byways that may be encountered, in relation to both the discovery of unexpected family relationships and the use of test results for law enforcement. Issues of identity, ethnicity and race are all
discussed, drawing on the experiences of test-takers, professional genetic genealogists and experts from a number of relevant disciplines.
The result is a very accessible and thoughtprovoking read, rarely straying into the technical aspects of DNA testing, but focusing on the emotional, psychological and ethical implications of testing for genealogy. There is a clear US focus and more emphasis might have been placed on the many positive outcomes that exist, but Copeland’s ultimate conclusion is that it is best to know the truth.