Bloodstream

Who is remembered and who is written out of history?When DNA speaks, a history far richer than dry archival records is revealed. Bloodstream traces two family lines across two centuries moving between the author's present-day reflections and the fully realized lives of her ancestors. A book about gypsies, geezers and genetics, it blends personal narrative with an engaging social history.Deep within England's woodlands, the mystical world of the author's Romani heritage reveals deep family bonds, gypsy kings, restless spirits and indomitable women, all living fearlessly outside societal norms. Counterpoint to this, hidden among shale and moss, the river Thames yields the Matthews clan's long-held family secrets and their sharp-elbowed determination to succeed as rivermen.Two distinct inheritances bound by resilience, movement and survival.In Bloodstream, while it was the men who framed their lives, it was the women who stretched the canvas and stitched in the details. The book's over-arching themes of class inequities, homelessness, loss of livelihood, xenophobia and family secrets are deeply relevant in today's divided world.