Tracing Your Female Ancestors

Adèle Emm • £14.99
Pen & Sword

Everyone has a mother and a line of female ancestors and often their paths through life are hard to trace. That is why this detailed, accessible handbook is of such value, for it explores the lives of female ancestors from the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 to the beginning of the First World War.

In 1815 a woman was the chattel of her husband; by 1914, when the menfolk were embarking on one of the most disastrous wars ever known, the women at home were taking on jobs and responsibilities never before imagined.

Adèle Emm’s work is the ideal introduction to the role of women during this period of dramatic social change.

Chapters cover the quintessential experiences of birth, marriage and death, a woman’s working and daily life both middle and working class, through to crime and punishment, the acquisition of an education and the fight for equality.

Each chapter gives advice on where further resources, archives, wills, newspapers and websites can be found, with plentiful common sense advice on how to use them.

Tracing Your Ancestors Using DNA

Edited by Graham S Holton • £14.99
Pen & Sword

DNA research is one of the most important and rapidly advancing areas in modern science and the practical use of DNA testing in genealogy is one of its most exciting applications. Yet there are few recent British publications in this field. That is why this accessible, wide-ranging introduction is so valuable.

It offers a clear and practical way into the subject, explaining the scientific discoveries and techniques and illustrating with case studies how it can be used by genealogists to gain an insight into their ancestry.

The subject is complex and perhaps difficult for traditional genealogists to understand but, with the aid of this book, novices who are keen to take advantage of it will be able to interpret test results and use them to help answer genealogical questions which cannot be answered by documentary evidence alone.

It will also appeal to those with some experience in the field because it places the practical application of genetic genealogy within a wider context, highlighting its role as a genealogical tool and suggesting how it can be made more effective.

Entertaining the Troops

Kiri Bloom Walden • £7.99
Shire Books

What did Laurence Olivier, Margot Fonteyn, Vera Lynn and Glenn Miller have in common? The answer is that they all performed for Allied troops during the Second World War in order to raise morale and assist the war effort.

In fact, many of Britain’s biggest stars spent their early careers travelling in the back of military trucks to support soldiers, sailors, and airmen around the world, and to remind them of the home they were fighting to protect.

This book explores the fascinating history of these attempts to bring a little fun and light-heartedness to the men and women in all theatres of WW2. From the famous Stars in Battledress and the Entertainments National Service Association to the pantomimes put on by PoWs, the book, from Shire Publications, offers a captivating insight into a world of theatre, dance, and music on the front lines.

The Tudors

Siobhan Clarke and Linda Collins • £25

Beginning on the bloody battlefield of Bosworth, when Henry Tudor seized the crown of England and ended the Wars of the Roses, The Tudors contains stories and characters that have fascinated readers for centuries. Illustrated with contemporary artworks, photographs and documents, historians Clarke and Collins tell the public and private story of England’s most famous royal family and the England they ruled.