This family history took a bit to win me over. Genealogist, Gary Heyn, wanted to write about his family that emigrated over from Germany - and do it in a compelling and interesting way. To achieve that he fictionalized their thoughts, conversations, and attitudes to create a narrative story. At the heart of the story all the "facts" are true; the houses, the scandals, the marriages, births, deaths, and more - but he fleshed them out in a way that at first felt inauthentic to me. How could he possibly know how Anna felt, or if there was jealousy between brothers. At first it annoyed me. But then... I got into the story - I got into learning about this massive sprawling family and all their trials and tribulations. Normal people wouldn't be invested in just a family tree, but they would in a good story. And that's what this was. A fictionalized account of a real family. And it's interesting - it's the ultimate immigration story. I did have trouble keeping track of all the Augusts, but that's to be expected in a huge German family. An innovative way to tell family history. ( )