A Broken Tree: How DNA Exposed a Family's Secrets

Written by: Stephen F. Anderson

First line: When I was a young boy, I loved watching Leave It to Beaver.

Why you should read this book: It's hard to discuss this memoir without massive spoilers, but, couched in the vaguest terms, the author and his siblings discover that neither of their parents were the people they thought they were. Since we already know the story hinges on DNA evidence, the reader will not find the revelations as terribly shocking as the author and his siblings did, but it's an interesting read nonetheless, full of complex emotional relationships and secrets and lies. A fast read, basically split into two parts, the first part being the actual story and the second part answering questions that many people had about how the author discovered and reacted to his story.

Why you shouldn't read this book: One thing the author declines to do is deeply examine the psychology of how his parents got to the point they got to—there's some discussion of it, but many readers will probably finish the book wishing they had a better understanding of why.