1904: a time of stability and hope. In a little Methodist chapel in country NSW, shy, reserved Albert marries confident, emotional Ethel. Both of them are twenty four. Four years later, at the bride’s family home in Sydney, shy, reserved Eva marries handsome, confident Victor, seven years her junior. 1969: a time of change and unrest. One of their grandchildren, confident, emotional Hugh, is married in Oxford to a reserved woman seven years older than he is. The pattern has begun to repeat… As Hugh’s life unfolds, the family themes of difference and belonging, ambition and failure, faith and doubt will play out all over again, often in startlingly literal ways. This is a family history like no other, focusing squarely on the way that families mysteriously repeat the same patterns of personality and behaviour, generation after generation.

‘I laughed, I cried, I had shocks of recognition and shocks of amazement: I was enthralled. A great story of interlocking lives…every note is in place.’ – Brian Stagoll, psychiatrist and family therapist

‘There are millions of books we don’t need – yours we do.‘ – Gabrielle Lord, award-winning novelist

1904: a time of stability and hope. In a little Methodist chapel in country NSW, shy, reserved Albert marries confident, emotional Ethel. Both of them are twenty four. Four years later, at the bride’s family home in Sydney, shy, reserved Eva marries handsome, confident Victor, seven years her junior. 1969: a time of change and unrest. One of their grandchildren, confident, emotional Hugh, is married in Oxford to a reserved woman seven years older than he is. The pattern has begun to repeat… As Hugh’s life unfolds, the family themes of difference and belonging, ambition and failure, faith and doubt will play out all over again, often in startlingly literal ways. This is a family history like no other, focusing squarely on the way that families mysteriously repeat the same patterns of personality and behaviour, generation after generation.

‘I laughed, I cried, I had shocks of recognition and shocks of amazement: I was enthralled. A great story of interlocking lives…every note is in place.’ – Brian Stagoll, psychiatrist and family therapist

‘There are millions of books we don’t need – yours we do.‘ – Gabrielle Lord, award-winning novelist

1904: a time of stability and hope. In a little Methodist chapel in country NSW, shy, reserved Albert marries confident, emotional Ethel. Both of them are twenty four. Four years later, at the bride’s family home in Sydney, shy, reserved Eva marries handsome, confident Victor, seven years her junior. 1969: a time of change and unrest. One of their grandchildren, confident, emotional Hugh, is married in Oxford to a reserved woman seven years older than he is. The pattern has begun to repeat… As Hugh’s life unfolds, the family themes of difference and belonging, ambition and failure, faith and doubt will play out all over again, often in startlingly literal ways. This is a family history like no other, focusing squarely on the way that families mysteriously repeat the same patterns of personality and behaviour, generation after generation.

‘I laughed, I cried, I had shocks of recognition and shocks of amazement: I was enthralled. A great story of interlocking lives…every note is in place.’ – Brian Stagoll, psychiatrist and family therapist

‘There are millions of books we don’t need – yours we do.‘ – Gabrielle Lord, award-winning novelist