Flesh and Blood: A History of My Family in Seven Maladi… (2024)

3.5 stars

Wenn Schauspieler Bücher schreiben, ist man zunächst einmal geneigt, skeptisch zu sein. Bücher von Stephen McGann, dessen Bekanntheitsgrad in Deutschland nicht so hoch ist bzw. weitgehend auf die Fans der TV-Serie „Call the Midwife“ beschränkt ist, sind jedoch ein Sonderfall. Der Darsteller des Dr. Turner ist nicht nur Schauspieler, sondern kann auch einen Master-Abschluss in „Science Communication“ vorweisen. Als Vermittler zwischen Wissenschaft und Laien ist er also als Autor populärwissenschaftlicher Bücher glaubwürdig.

„Flesh and Blood“ ist allerdings etwas schwierig einzuordnen, es handelt sich im Wesentlichen um einen Mix aus populärwissenschaftlichem Werk und Biografie, denn, wie es der Untertitel schon verrät, er erzählt uns von der Geschichte seiner Familie und den Krankheiten, unter denen diese litten. Im Englischen verwendet er das Wort „Malady“, um auszudrücken, dass er hiermit nicht nur Krankheiten im physiologischen Sinne gemeint sind. Er erläutert dies so:

„A malady is more than just an illness. It suggests a wider disorder – one that can be ascribed to a situation as well as an individual. It can describe the spiritual distemper of nations, of families, or the self. It’s a flaw of human character as well as of human physiology.“ (Seite xvii)

Man könnte „malady“ in etwa mit „Übel“ übersetzen. Die sieben Übel, die McGann in seinem Buch anspricht, sind Hunger, Seuchen, widrige Bedingungen („exposure“, wörtlich „Ausgesetztsein“), Traumata, Atemnot, Herzleiden und Nekrosen.

McGann ist wie viele Liverpudlians irischer Abstammung, und so verwundert es nicht, dass er die Geschichte seiner Familie beginnend mit der Auswanderung aus Irland aufgrund der von der Kartoffelfäule ausgelösten großen Hungersnot erzählt. Anschaulich schildert er, wie physiologische und soziale Umstände die Gesundheit seiner Vorfahren beeinflusste. Dabei geht er nicht streng linear vor, sondern springt auch einmal zwischen den Generationen. Relativ bald erreichen wir die nähere Vergangenheit und McGanns eigene Geschichte. Dies nimmt einen größeren Teil des Buches ein, als ich erwartet hatte, aber auch diese Kapitel habe ich mit Interesse gelesen. Besonders berührt hat mich seine Schilderung der Hillsborough-Katastrophe, bei der er im Stadium war und nur durch puren Zufall nicht auf der Tribüne stand, auf der das Unglück geschah. Der Umgang der Presse sowie der Polizei, die die Ursache den Fans in die Schuhe schieben wollten, hat bei McGann verständlicherweise deutliche Bitterkeit hinterlassen:

„One publication, the London Evening Standard, blamed the ‚tribal passions‘ of Liverpool supporters for causing the tragedy.

Tribal passions. That incurable, pestilent tribe invoked again, more than a century later … Despite a century of medical advancement and social improvement, my family remains a pestilence of convencience to a nation in need of a more accommodating explanation.“ (S. 79 – 81)

Auch dies ist ein Übel, das McGanns Familie indirekt traf. (Dass die Fans nicht verantwortlich waren für das Unglück, ist inzwischen erwiesen.)

McGanns Buch ist ein ungewöhnliches, mir fällt auf Anhieb kein Ähnliches ein. Es ist eine Art Fallstudie ergänzt durch die eigenen Erinnerungen des Autors. Nicht nur für Fans von Call the Midwife lesenswert.

Flesh and Blood: A History of My Family in Seven Maladies, to give it its full title, is not your average celebrity autobiography. Stephen McGann will be well known to many for his acting roles over the years and most recently as Dr Turner in Call the Midwife. The book isn't really an autobiography but more a combination of different subjects: part history, part autobiography, part medical references. Stephen McGann has written about his McGann ancestors from the time when they left Ireland during the Potato Famine, following them through living in desperate poverty in Liverpool, living and fighting in the world wars, right through to his own life and career.

I went to see Stephen McGann at the Edinburgh International Book Festival this year as, having researched my own family, I was really interested in the sound of the book. My daughter (also a Call the Midwife fan) came too and this was one of her first book festival events. It was honestly one of the best book festival events I've been to. Stephen McGann was so enthusiastic about his subject and fascinating to listen to. I have to be honest and say I hadn't actually planned to get the book but after listening to him talking about the book and reading from it, my daughter and I both agreed that we just had to buy it and get it signed. I think it's testimony to how engaging he was that none of the questions from the audience were about his acting career but all were about his book or genealogical research.

This book grew out of Stephen McGann's research into his family's history looking at census and birth/marriage/death records. As anyone who has ever researched their own family will tell you, these give only the bare bones and is the start of a very addictive process. There are always more questions than answers when you look at a document such as a birth or death record or follow a family through the census. It gives no more than a snapshot of that moment. This book is an attempt to add more detail to the McGann family history. Looking at death records in particular from years gone by reveals illnesses which either no longer exist at all or can be treated now. The author has chosen seven illnesses or maladies which have affected his family over the years and used them to look at social history and the history of medicine during these times.

It's a truly fascinating read. Each chapter begins with a medical explanation of the particular malady being looked at such as hunger, trauma or heart problems. Then the author moves on to looking at the history of a generation of his family through a particular record and examines the social issues affecting them at this time. Each chapter ends with a more personal testimony, relating the malady to someone in his family affected by it. For example, an uncle affected by hunger in a prisoner of war camp, the author's own experience at Hillsborough, his brother in-law's death at a young age. I was delighted and almost as excited as the author to read about a connection to the Titanic. Truly, as he says, genealogical gold! I found the history and testimony in the final chapter, looking at his marriage, the birth of his son and his wife's illness very moving indeed. His love and pride for his wife and son come across strongly in this emotional and deeply personal chapter.

I don't read non-fiction very often but thoroughly enjoyed this very well written and absorbing book. The author has brought together medical history, genealogical research, social history and personal experience in a fascinating book which for me was as much a page-turner as any thriller.

This was a fascinating book and a unique approach to writing a family history.

What impressed me most was the unusual insights he had into family history generally and his in particular. I highlighted many of his quotes for this reason. I suppose as researchers we often look at the influences of external factors on our families but somehow this was a step beyond the usual.

There were times as the book progressed that I felt there was just too much
info in the malady itself but it would especially appeal to those with a medical/clinical/scientific background.

Strongly recommended for those interested in family history aka genealogy.

I really enjoyed this book. My husband bought it me for Christmas as he thought it tied all of my interests together.

Although I wasn't taken with the book immediately, it became clear that there was much to relate to: my own ancestors would have lived a few streets away from McGann's; my Irish Great Grandfather was a marine fireman; and I am also married to a Liverpool television screenwriter, so I began to really relish the personal stories and struggles McGann had recorded.

The book is very moving. I had much to relate to in Stephen and Heidi's experiences of pregnancy and in Stephen's mum's too. There is much common humanity - as well as astounding survival stories - particularly The Titanic and in Heidi's battle with infection. And much to recognise in the old family neurosis too.

This book is written from the heart and soul. After a bleak beginning and struggles along the way, the ending uplifts the reader and makes one value not only one's own life, but the struggle for survival that came before.

I thought this book would be a gentle read, a bit like watching an episode of Call the Midwife (the TV series you'll know Stephen McGann from - he plays Doctor Turner). I was expecting something that used medicine to lightly introduce different anecdotes from McGann's family history. I wasn't prepared for the emotional engagement of Flesh and Blood - this book is truly gripping and beautifully written. McGann has a way with words, and I really wasn't aware how good a writer he is. He often repeats the more profound phrases and sentences that sum up each of the seven 'maladies' discussed in the book, and this technique binds them closer together.

Each section of the book is further divided into the medical context and the personal context, so you learn about the biological side of things and the sociological side of things, as well as the personal impact on McGann and his ancestors. However, the different sections flow together very well, and it doesn’t feel disjointed or clunky. It feels like an intelligent way to communicate a love of genealogy and medical science (interestingly, McGann studied Science Communication at Imperial College London because of his Call the Midwife role, so he knows his stuff).

There are some truly harrowing stories in here. McGann witnessed the Hillsborough tragedy and knew first-hand how damaging and inaccurate the media’s reporting of the event was. He writes emotively about the effects of the Potato Famine, the grinding poverty in Liverpool’s docks, and the sinking of the Titanic. A later section on his wife’s brush with death is chilling, too.

Don’t brush this aside as yet another actor turning their hands to writing for the sake of it – Flesh and Blood is honestly a joy to read, and you’ll be left wishing you could probe so effectively into your own family history and the maladies they must have suffered.

Very good

At a medical appointment last week, I was asked what was the cause of death for each of my grandparents. I had just finished McGann's book and became aware that for each of us, such information tells about a particular era, and sometimes class or work, and is in itself a form of history.
My two grandfathers died in old age- one of a hemorrhaged stomach ulcer and one of cancer. But I never knew either of my grandmothers: one died when my mother was young, of TB, the health scourge of that period, (and "fresh air" did not cure her,) and the other died shortly after childbirth, my father her only child,in a way that is much less common now with modern medicine, especially antibiotics and blood transfusions. Their early deaths made an enormous difference to each of the families they left behind- yet neither was particularly uncommon.
I found "Flesh and Blood" a beautifully written interplay of medical information- death, in Liverpool, of marasmus, which I now know is malnutrition/ starvation, for example- and the story of the McGann family, refugees from the Irish potato famine, and the continuation and struggle of the survivors in each generation. Wider too, here is the story of the last 150 years of medical progress and the availability of education and the welfare state as well as the NHS. What a different world we have inherited.

If this were a musical performance, we’d call it a mashup: a little of this, a little of that. It’s largely family memoir, that is, not even half focused on just the author’s life. McGann includes six generations and what diseases or afflictions caused most of their misery and deaths: hunger, pestilence, exposure, trauma, breathlessness, heart problems, and necrosis. We also learn how cultural history, war, health care, sanitation, class, sex, and public schooling have always played a big role in whether our personal lives are largely happy or depressed. Frankly, it sounds like it might be a big mess, but instead, like musical mashups, the contrasts as well as the variety in writing styles McGann uses make it wonderful reading. It’s full of surprises and vastly more interesting than the tell all, name-dropping memoirs of most celebrities.

In fact, the name Stephen McGann meant nothing to me, even though I’ve watched him play Dr. Turner in Call the Midwife for years. Probably a lot more people in the UK recognize the name as one of the four McGann brothers who became professional actors and singers. That was a surprise to me. I also didn’t know that he’s been married for thirty years to the author of the television scripts, Heidi Thomas. He doesn’t put on airs, but instead honors the poor immigrants who migrated from Ireland to Liverpool during the potato famine. He knows how fortunate he is to have come so far from the lives they lived. He doesn’t even mention much of his life in the past 20 years except in the Epilogue. This wasn’t, “Look at me, the famous actor.”

Since I love learning more about medicine and genealogy, I was captivated in the first few pages. McGann does a good job as a clear technical writer, explaining how various diseases or hardships affect our bodies, but he also brings a lot of warmth and tenderness when he describes his close family. He even becomes poetic at times, and he made me cry at least twice. It is a down-to-earth look at what it means to be human. Although he is talking mostly about poor to lower-middle class people, he shows that you don’t have to be a Kennedy or Windsor to wind up in history books or the news. But I’ll leave those surprises for you to discover.

This one caught my eye while looking for a book of Call The Midwife quotes on Amazon. They have such a thing, but I didn’t buy it (yet), because this one jumped into my cart. I’m so glad it did!

Have you ever been at a gathering, and maybe a little overwhelmed, you see someone sitting quietly aside, so you go visit with them only to find out that they are the most fascinating person you’ve talked to in a long time? This book is that someone. Unassuming, doing it’s own thing, and riveting to chat with.

Equal parts geography, history, biology, sociology memoir and philosophy, genealogist (actor/father etc) McGann shares his family history in a manner that is completely unique. Interestingly, he sets the generations beside the medical condition that most defined them. Or best describes them.

He is kind and down-to-earth. It’s not a tell-all, but he gets the ideas across about the unpleasant bits of families without defaming anyone. -Because one can’t avoid the unpleasant bits, but they don’t have to be dwelled on.

It is exceptionally well-written and a joy to read. I read it with a pencil in hand.

(Also, his wife created Call the Midwife! I had no idea.)

Ironically, that which sometimes weakens this work, at other times makes it stronger! A very original take on doing family history, and McGann’s thoughtful lyricism immediately confirms his Irish roots - sometimes in a longwinded fashion, but his passion for the subjects is deep. Instead of trying to provide a chronological retelling of his family story, McGann uses 7 medical/health issues that have dominated human life, especially that of his own genealogy, to provide entries into an understanding of his own family history within the broader context of Anglo-Irish social history. That personal element is particularly poignant and lends an extra dimension of interest and depth to what can easily become a dry collection of facts and figures. Which is his whole point, that family is more than an aggregation of documents.

This alternate take on a genealogical autobiography is beautifully written through the experiences of seven medical maladies. Showing each one through both its literal medical meaning as well as the symbolic hidden meaning that is often overlooked. Thought-provoking is an understatement in this context, instead, it establishes the deep hardship of our ancestors and the difference of reality they faced. From the collapse of the potato crop in Ireland leading to the famine in Liverpool to the experiences of love through heartache. Creating a personal relationship with those we have never, however, realising our ancestors lived similar lives. Exploring a family history through their own personal stories rather than just a name on a piece of paper, often claiming we are a drama, not an inscription. Inferring that these seven common maladies can shape a family and each case discovered shows development in our history rather than a premature ending or the breaking. 5/5

Flesh and Blood is a memoir written as drama, and the drama is a rich mix of deprivation, tragedy, mystery, skulduggery, high adventure and even heroism. You don’t often need to be wary of ‘spoilers’ in reviewing a memoir, but McGann’s ancestors bore witness to some of the great tragedies and horrors of the 19th and 20th centuries. He chronicles their progress from destitute Irish immigrants, fleeing the potato famine, through decades of poverty and squalor in Liverpool’s slums, to a slow elevation from illiteracy, starvation, and disease to education and affluence with surprises and shocks aplenty.

Full review on my website.

What a fantastic read! After randomly binging all 11 series of Call the Midwife, I found myself wanting a bit more of CtM. And then I found this - written by Stephen McGann aka Dr Patrick Turner. However, this is not fictional. This genealogical memoir follows McGann looking back on medical stories, that relate to him or his family (past and current). I have never read anything like it, but I really enjoyed it. He opens up about his vulnerabilities as a child with asthma, and as a teenager with depression - to him growing up as one of the McGann brothers, his and his wife's (Heidi Thomas - writer of Call the Midwife) struggle with fertility, among other things. Starting with the McGann ancestors from the 1840s. A worthwhile read!

What an excellent hybrid of science, history, and family memoir. McGann does a great job of demonstrating what happens when science and social services (like the NHS) are given their due, and how that can affect a family's health and position in life over the decades. Also, I didn't know that he and his brother Paul were actually PRESENT during the Hillsborough tragedy, which wow — what a terrible thing to have experienced. Between that story and several other interesting wings of his family history, plus the care he puts into the rest, it's a great book.

This book was fascinating and moving. The medical, historical and personal information in each chapter worked well, giving the reader insight and understanding. I found it particularly moving as I grew up in Liverpool at the same time as the author and his brothers and sister and so much of the attitudes of his family members and their experiences resonated with my own memories of the time. I finished the final chapter while cooking as I just couldn't put it down!

Really interesting and unusual way of writing a family history. Each chapter begins with a detailed description of a particular malady and goes on to explain it's effect on a family member. Beginning with hunger, as his ancestors are forced to leave the west of Ireland during the famine, the family history takes us to the slums of Liverpool, the Titanic, through two world wars up to the present day. Really fascinating read.

Absolutely loved this. Big fan of genealogy, family history, and learning about other people's connections. Liked how each family event was tied to both current day and a medical malady. It made me think about my own family and want to jump back into making my own genealogy connections. A keeper for sure, and a future reread.

This was utterly fantastic, I was literally taking notes as I read it. And in my head it was read by the author since I'm coincidentally also a huge Call the Midwife fan (not why I read it! genealogy for life!!)

This not a ordinary auto biog but medical & historical trip through McGann past but also what happened in this period from potato blight in Ireland & how it existed to why Uncle Billy hated Japanese .
This not boring bio of bosts but true filth history

Brilliant

A really interesting way to present family history! I could hear Stephen telling his story in his actors guise of Dr Turner from Midwife.

Found this in my local library. Would not have thought to buy it but couldn't put it down. Part autobiography, part social history, part medical history and part showbiz.
Really glad I found it. Really well researched and written.

This book covers the history of the McGann family told through the illnesses and afflictions of some members of the family tree, a very novel approach. I listened on Audible which enhanced the experience as Stephen's voice is so eloquent and expressive. The stories themselves are very poignant and on occasion brought me to tears, as the emotion in Stephen's voice was obvious.
A great book, especially for anyone interested in family history.

I knew, going into this book, that Stephen I had a few things in common: birthplace, Irish roots, Liverpool FC fans etc. I didn't realise just how much!

I knew some things he didn't, such as where my ancestors hailed from, and that I was certain of my personal Irish migrant history. But what Stephen unveiled gave me so many more clues as to exactly what my folks actually went through than I'd ever realised. I knew, for example, that one great great grandmother had altered her place of birth - and I knew that putting Liverpool instead of a village outside Dublin would've given her a better chance at securing the job in service that she did get - but I didn't know just how pernicious or disgusting the treatment of the Irish immigrants actually was. Stephen gave me a real insight into that, and I'm grateful for it. I find myself looking through different filters at some of my own family events. One of them was a lost great-uncle at the Somme. I had no idea why we didn't know about him, but as he was also part Scottish, perhaps the nuances of social acceptibility were more shadowed and veiled than my own near generations had realised. Or the great great grandfather who lost a bakery business through alocohol abuse - maybe my family should wonder more about what drove him to the bottle, before tutting and moving on from his tale.

What had interested me in the book was Stephen's love of the history of social medicine. One of his other books, Dr Turner's Casebook, was coupled with this one, as a Christmas present from one of my sons (he asked me and I requested them). So, knowing the show the second book stemmed from and what it was all about, I hoped this book was similar. I wasn't disappointed! You see, for me, history isn't about courtly, political or aristocratic self-importance; it's abut the lives and experiences of everyday people, too. I'd far rather know what it was like to see how the Liverpool dockers, costermongers and canal-cutters existed, before finding out a single new fact about the Tudors, for example.

The candid approach and invitation to witness Stephen's personal challenges provide threads which weave themselves into a fabric both familiar and new, simultaneously. "Food for thought" is an overused phrase, but entirely appropriate, in this instance, for myself and my own relationship with my past. I find myself smiling when I wonder which health issues - physical and psychological - have been passed down to the family generations I've known in-person. I wonder which characteristics/illnesses of those who came before will predetermine the path my granddaughter takes in life, and which will provide her with the tools to change things for better. Or worse!

As well as being something many thousands of Liverpudlians would identify with, I'd highly recommend anyone with an interest in genealogy take a look, before thinking again about the familial documented facts they've uncovered. Prepare to open your mind, when reconsidering their tales!

It's a well-written book, flows nicely, and is accessible in a way which makes you feel as though you've been on Stephen's journey too. Highly enjoyable without being pretentious or high-minded!

Stephen McGann kennen die "Call the Midwife"-Guckerinnen unter uns als den engagierten und (fast) immer verständnisvollen Allgemeinarzt Dr. Turner, doch auch im richtigen Leben hat er ein Faible für medizinische und medizinhistorische Themen. (Ich wage sogar zu behaupten, dass seine Rolle in der Serie kein Zufall ist - seine Ehefrau ist die Drehbuchautorin und CtM-Erfinderin Heidi Thomas.)

In diesem Buch erzählt er nicht nur seine eigene Geschichte, sondern geht in die Vergangenheit der McGanns zurück bis zu seinen Urahnen, die während der verheerenden Hungersnot in Irland nach Liverpool auswanderten, und verwebt die bewegenden und oft genug auch tragischen Erlebnisse seiner Vorfahren ebenso wie seine eigenen mit den sieben "maladies" aus dem Untertitel.

Eine richtig schöne Entsprechung im Deutschen ist mir nicht eingefallen, "Krankheit" ist zu eng gefasst - "Leiden" vielleicht oder "Übel", denn es geht McGann nicht nur um körperlich-medizinische Probleme, sondern auch um gesellschaftliche Missstände wie Fremdenhass, Vernachlässigung oder mangelnde medizinische Grundversorgung.

Wer jetzt trockene Abhandlungen in ödem Fachjargon befürchtet, kann beruhigt sein, McGann erläutert medizinische Zusammenhänge genauso verständlich und regelrecht spannend, wie er auch Einzelschicksale aus seiner Familienhistorie lebendig werden lässt und weit über die dürren Fakten, die er im Rahmen seiner Ahnenforschung ermitteln konnte, hinaushebt.

Genauso interessant fand ich Stephens eigenen Werdegang, der - wie auch seine drei Brüder - zur ersten Generation der McGanns gehörte, die eine andere Laufbahn einschlug als Seemann oder Fabrikarbeiter. Was er über seine Kindheit und Jugend, seinen Kampf mit Asthma und Agoraphobie und die oftmals schwierige Familiendynamik, seine Karriere und seine Ehe erzählt, wirkt offen und ehrlich, ohne je indiskret oder selbstherrlich zu sein, und angenehm bodenständig.

Stilistisch gehen ab und zu die Metaphern ein wenig mit ihm durch, das ist aber auch das einzige, was ich auszusetzen habe. Nicht nur für Fans ein lesenswertes Buch!

A fascinating story of an Irish family and their history from the mid-nineteenth century on, using health conditions that affected them to provide a skeleton on which to hang the details of their lives, this is written by the genealogist of the family (every family has one!), actor Stephen McGann.
Stephen is the youngest of four surviving brothers, all of whom have become actors. While this is interesting, it is not the only focus of the story. Nor, to be honest, are the health conditions, though they do have a bearing on events in the family's history, some more than others.
I was fascinated to realise just how Irish Liverpool was, and to a degree still is: this might well explain part of the reason my sister's DNA came up as 50% Irish, despite our not having any known Irish ancestors, as we do have ancestors from Liverpool.
I was impressed with the degree to which education was the star of the show, and what a difference access to education made to working class families. Stephen's parents were both very bright, but circ*mstances rendered them unable to take full (or in his father's case any) advantage of scholarships to grammar schools. This frustration made them determined to allow their children to take advantage of the opportunities they wished they had had, for which their children are undoubtedly thankful to this day.
It's interesting that all of the boys ended up with theatrical careers: it's such a stressful uncertain way of earning a living, possibly lucrative when you are in work (though not always and probably not when you are starting out), but rather nail-biting when you are not!

Unabridged audio version narrated by Stephen McGann himself.

Having a postgraduate degree in medical humanities, and playing a doctor in Call the Midwife, McGann is uniquely placed to write a cross between an autobiography and a family history. It's an ingenious concept and beautifully written. Stephen has an amazing voice, and narrating his own story, with his storytelling skills honed by his prestigious acting career, makes it one of the most special audio books I have experienced. I was also fortunate enough to meet him at a book signing. And he is just as warm, funny, engaging and genuine in real life. If I had not met him, I would have labelled the sentimental, reflective parts of the book self indulgent and criticised them for being unnecessary. But it's just him. And I'm delighted the publishers haven't tried to suppress that.

My one annoyance and criticism which stops it being a 5 star read is the lack of supporting evidence and references for the statements he makes about history. He's clearly done his research, so why not provide a bibliography or further reading for each chapter, so those who are interested can follow up about the potato famine, exposure and even Hillsborough. A simple nod towards his medical humanities academic career would have lifted this book beyond an autobiography by a tv star and turned it into an invaluable resource and starting point for many with similar interests.

This was an interesting take on family history, telling not necessarily the whole tale but focusing instead on specific maladies and the family members they affected.

For the most part I enjoyed it. Each section starts with a brief description of the medicine before going on to describe how these affected the McGann family. Some sections were more engaging than others but there is no doubt the McGanns were an interesting bunch - Irish immigrants, Titanic survivors, PoWs through to the four acting brothers.

It really shone at the end though, when it started reading like more of a traditional memoir. From McGann's own breathing problems to his wife's maladies, the personal touch made such a difference to my engagement.

McGann is quite the engaging writer too. Turns out he has a Masters in Science Communication and it makes a difference in what could have otherwise been rather dry sections of medical speak. He also writes quite movingly, particularly about his wife's illness, and with great affection and respect towards his family.

Stephen McGann is not just an actor, known for his role as Dr Turner in the beloved tv show Call The Midwife, he is also an incredibly talented writer as proven by this book.

Having become interested in genealogy as a young man, the book traces the generations of the McGann family, from the mid 19th century Famine in Ireland to the present day, cataloging seven sicknesses which loomed heavily in the lives of the McGann family, past and present.

From famine stricken Ireland to the streets of Liverpool, through times of war, poverty and tragedy, the names on genealogical records become flesh and blood as their story is told.

Those who have gone before us are like an echo we all carry within ourselves, the genetics are undeniable and their lived experience may influence other generations more than we realise.

This is a very different way to tell a family's history, via the ailments and illnesses that afflicted the different generations but one that is woven together so well that it reads like a drama, maybe even a medical drama like Call The Midwife itself.

I really wanted to like this book. The premise is intriguing, and parts of it are very well written, but the medical introductions to each chapter read like undergraduate essays copied and pasted from Wikipedia articles. They jump all over the place and I wondered if he was trying to stretch the word count to get the book up to a publishable length. Some sections are patronising to the reader, and as others have said, the floweriness of the language is a bit cringe making. Forcing a structure on the chapters lost the flow of the stories for me - I have an anecdote involving a particular illness, so how can I make the first section fit what’s coming later? I would have enjoyed it more if it’d been edited down to about half the length. To end on a positive note, the personal stories of his family members made for compelling reading and he did a nice job working them into the historical settings.