Inheritance: A memoir of genealogy, paternity, and love, by Dani Shapiro

As more and more people, usually just on a whim and because it’s on sale, opt to send off a little vial of spit to learn about their ancestry, it is likely that more and more of us will have a surprise in store.  Occasionally, this may be life-changing.  The author grew up as an only child in an Orthodox Jewish family.  Her parents were older and struggled to have a child together.  Now in her fifties, Shapiro is no longer religiously observant, but much of her self-image was formed by pride in the long history of the Jewish people and her father’s family’s important part in it.  She was a descendent of rabbis and scholars, many of whose pictures were lovingly displayed throughout the home she shared with her husband and teenage son.  When her results came back, they revealed that she wasn’t nearly as Jewish as she thought – in fact almost half of her DNA came from English, Irish, and assorted northern European ancestors.  As it happens, she has a half-sister from her father’s earlier marriage.  When Susie’s test results reveal that she and Dani do not, in fact, have the same father, the author’s entire life is called into question.  Thus begins a journey through family history, medical ethics, the power of love, and what it means to be a member of one group of people or another.  250 pp.