FAMILY TALKS

Journalist turned genealogist Jennifer Mendelsohn amassed over 60k followers by using genealogy to #debunk anti-immigration US political figures. Though the need for this service has somewhat waned, I talk to Jennifer about bringing genealogy into the twittersphere and the place of the paper trail in the world of 'fake news'. We also discuss the intricacies of Jewish genealogy and share some of the incredible Holocaust stories we've worked on. 

Author Sanaë Lemoine wrote a novel about the child of a secret family - only to realise it wasn't entirely fictional...  Sanaë Lemoine's debut novel 'The Margot Affair' is the story of Margot, the secret love child of a French actress and the French minister for culture. When Sanaë's editor asked if there was any inspiration for the book, she said there wasn't. But in this episode we explore the novel's similarities with Sanaë's own experience of her father's secret family - and how writing the novel has helped her come to terms with the past.

Growing up Sarah thought she knew her father, until the day she discovered he had a secret family in the South Pacific.  In this episode I speak to Pennsylvania-born financial software specialist Sarah, about what it's like to discover in your early 20s that your Dad has a secret family. We explore Sarah's story and its ramifications for her family - as well as discussing the 'concept' of secret families themselves. How common are they? What type of person has a secret family? And perhaps most importantly, why? 

More and more people are taking home DNA tests expecting to find what percentage Irish/Native American/fill-in-the-blank they are, and actually finding out their Dad's not their Dad. From forgotten one night stands to babies swapped at birth, author and journalist Libby Copeland has uncovered hundreds of stories of 'recreational' home DNA tests upending people's lives. In this episode I speak to Libby about her new book 'The Lost Family: How DNA Testing is Upending Who We Are'. We discuss the questions DNA testing is forcing us to to ask - what right do you have to know your genetic past? What right do previous generations have to keep their secrets? And with nearly 40 million test kits sold so far, how long before we are all 'discoverable'?