Podcast appearances and mentions of helen simonson

Helen Simonson discusses her new novel, The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club. A timeless comedy of manners—refreshing as a summer breeze and bracing as the British seaside—about a generation of young women facing the seismic changes brought on by war and dreaming of the boundless possibilities of their future, from the bestselling author of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand.

Catherine Raynes is here to review some books with Jack Tame.  Smoke by Michael Brissenden   Detective Alex Markov has recently returned to her small hometown of Jasper, California, after leaving the LAPD in disgrace, only to find her new colleagues don't want her either. When a deadly wildfire sweeps through Jasper her investigations find a deadly underbelly beneath the smoke - a town for sale to the highest bidder and authorities playing games within games, in which she's the prize pawn.  The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson  A young woman's life is forever changed in the summer after World War I when she befriends a group of independent, motorcycle-riding women in a seaside town on the English coast - a captivating novel from the bestselling author of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand.  LISTEN ABOVE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week's episode of Currently Reading, Kaytee and Meredith are discussing: Bookish Moments: a new reading habit and protecting a reading life Current Reads: books that are joyful (one of us really needed it) and a strange twin theme! Deep Dive: seasoned protagonists, who are they are which are our favorites The Fountain: we visit our perfect fountain to make wishes about our reading lives As per usual, time-stamped show notes are below with references to every book and resource we mentioned in this episode. If you'd like to listen first and not spoil the surprise, don't scroll down!  We are now including transcripts of the episode (this link only works on the main site). The goal here is to increase accessibility for our fans! *Please note that all book titles linked below are Bookshop affiliate links. Your cost is the same, but a small portion of your purchase will come back to us to help offset the costs of the show. If you'd prefer to shop on Amazon, you can still do so here through our main storefront. Anything you buy there (even your laundry detergent, if you recently got obsessed with switching up your laundry game) kicks a small amount back to us. Thanks for your support!*   . . . . 1:46 - Currently Reading Patreon 4:37 - Bookish Moment of the Week 5:54 - Pangobooks 13:28 - Current Reads 13:50 - The Twin Paradox by Charles Wachter (Meredith) 18:13 - Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi  18:15 - Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton 19:11 - Honey and Spice by Bolu Babalola (Kaytee) 19:21 - Love in Color by Bolu Babalola 10:36 - The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon 21:35 - Libro.fm 22:34 - Little Darlings by Melanie Golding (Meredith) 22:40 - The Hidden by Melanie Golding 28:57 - Hoopla 29:28 - In Her Boots by KJ Dell'antoia (Kaytee) 32:48 - Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (Meredith) 33:27 - Piranesi by Susanna Clarke 36:59 - Great Expectations by Charles Dickens 41:04 - The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle by Matt Cain (Kaytee) 42:19 - A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman 42:21 - All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle 42:23 - The Guncle by Steven Rowley  42:43 - One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston 43:58 - Deep Dive: Seasoned Protagonists in our Reading 48:27 - The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-Mo 49:10 - Cafe Con Libros 49:28 - An Elderly Lady Is Up To No Good by Helene Tursten 50:18 - Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn 50:39 - The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman 50:49 - The Bullet that Missed by Richard Osman 53:39 - Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death (#1 in the series) by M.C. Beaton 54:00 - The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax (#1 in the series) by Dorothy Gilman 54:48 - A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman 54:49 - All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle 54:50 - The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle by Matt Cain 55:08 - The Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory 55:21 - The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg 55:26 - Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson 55:43 - The Confession Club by Elizabeth Berg 56:42 - Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf 57:35 - The Son by Philipp Meyer 57:51 - The Shell Seekers by Rosamund Pilcher 58:53 - Meet Us At The Fountain I wish that everyone would read Rewind by Catherine Ryan Howard. (Meredith) 59:23 - Rewind by Catherine Ryan Howard 59:33 - The Nothing Man by Catherine Ryan Howard 59:42 - Fabled Bookshop 1:00:54 - Run Time by Catherine Ryan Howard I wish that if a book is part of a series, the number is always on the spine or cover. (Kaytee) 1:01:29 - Spirit Hunters: The Island of Monsters by Ellen Oh 1:02:04 - Spirit Hunters by Ellen Oh Connect With Us: Meredith is @meredith.reads on Instagram Kaytee is @notesonbookmarks on Instagram Mindy is @gratefulforgrace on Instagram Mary is @maryreadsandsips on Instagram Roxanna is @roxannatheplanner on Instagram currentlyreadingpodcast.com @currentlyreadingpodcast on Instagram currentlyreadingpodcast@gmail.com Support us at patreon.com/currentlyreadingpodcast and www.zazzle.com/store/currentlyreading

On this week's episode of Currently Reading, Mindy and Kaytee are discussing: Bookish Moments: live tweets from a friend and a spicy conversation behind the scenes Current Reads: some romance, some disagreement, and some under-the-radar gems Deep Dive: Mindy and Kaytee bring all the curmudgeons and disagree about them! Book Presses: a great series, and a short but powerful novel As per usual, time-stamped show notes are below with references to every book and resource we mentioned in this episode. If you'd like to listen first and not spoil the surprise, don't scroll down!  New: we are now including transcripts of the episode (this link only works on the main site). These are generated by AI, so they may not be perfectly accurate, but we want to increase accessibility for our fans! *Please note that all book titles linked below are Bookshop affiliate links. Your cost is the same, but a small portion of your purchase will come back to us to help offset the costs of the show. If you'd prefer to shop on Amazon, you can still do so here through our main storefront. Anything you buy there (even your dishwasher detergent!) kicks a small amount back to us. Thanks for your support!*   . . . . :30 - Currently Reading Patreon 1:29 - Bookish Moment of the Week 1:38 - Beartown by Fredrik Backman 4:05 - Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult 4:19 - Current Reads 4:52 - The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton (Mindy) 7:48 - Outlander by Diana Gabaldon  8:32 - The Princess Bride by William Goldman 9:08 - The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang (Kaytee) 9:12 - The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang 9:54 - Libro.fm 13:13 - What the Fireflies Knew by Kai Harris (Mindy) 14:45 - Matrix by Lauren Goff 15:43 - The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini 15:44 - Honor by Thirty Umrigar 16:39 - Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams 19:26 - Fabled Bookshop 20:18 - The Hidden by Melanie Golding (Kaytee) 23:42 - Julie's Instagram @jns.reads 23:54 - Blanche on the Lam by Barbara Neely (Mindy) 27:11 - Fifty-FIfty by Steve Cavanaugh 27:13 - Thirteen by Steve Cavanaugh 29:03 - The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikole Hannah Jones (Kaytee) 29:18 - Four Hundred Souls by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain 30:37 - Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson 30:40 - The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander 30:42 - Our Time is Now by Stacey Abrams 33:51 - Deep Dive: Our Favorite Curmudgeons 39:34 - Then Tweets My Soul: The Best of the Church Curmudgeon by David Reigier  41:23 - A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman 42:20 - All The Lonely People by Mike Gayle 42:35 - Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson 42:58 - The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen: Eighty-Three and a Quarter Years Old by Hendrik Groen 43:08 - How the Penguins Saved Veronica by Hazel Prior 43:26 - Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman 43:29 - Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman 44:29 - The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett by Annie Lyons 44:52 - The Love Story of Missy Carmichael by Beth Morrey 45:16 - Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney 46:25 - The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion 46:53 - The Guncle by Steven Rowley 48:17 - Harry's Trees by Jon Cohen 48:56 - The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune 49:37 - The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin 49:39 - The Lost for Words Bookshop by Stephanie Butland (amazon link) 51:44 - The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg 51:47 - The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick 52:39 - Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce 53:04  - Books We'd Like to Press Into Your Hands 53:28 - Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor (Mindy) 54:06 - Season 3: Episode 7 54:47 - Circe by Madeline Miller 54:48 - A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes 55:21 - All Systems Red by Martha Wells (Murderbot #1) 55:56 - The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead (Kaytee) 54:36 - The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead Connect With Us: Meredith is @meredith.reads on Instagram Kaytee is @notesonbookmarks on Instagram Mindy is @gratefulforgrace on Instagram Mary is @maryreadsandsips on Instagram currentlyreadingpodcast.com @currentlyreadingpodcast on Instagram currentlyreadingpodcast@gmail.com Support us at patreon.com/currentlyreadingpodcast

Here's Gerald's audio book review of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson. A staid retired military man deals with greedy family probate issues as he courts a shy Pakistani woman in a conservative village of rural England. #bookreview #romance #amwriting #selfpub #podcast Gerald Everett Jones is author of Bonfire of the Vanderbilts and host of the GetPublished! Radio Show. There's more advice for self-publishing authors at getpublishedradio.com.

Today Daniel reads to Jackie from "The Summer Before The War" by Helen Simonson.  https://www.amazon.com/Summer-Before-War-Novel/dp/0812983203 Find more at Jackie's website https://jackieadamssite.wordpress.com/

Daniel reviews a book for Jackie, "The Summer Before The War" by Helen Simonson https://www.amazon.com/Summer-Before-War-Novel/dp/0812983203 Find more at Jackie's website https://jackieadamssite.wordpress.com/

Here's Gerald's audio book review of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson. A staid retired military man deals with greedy family probate issues as he courts a shy Pakistani woman in a conservative village of rural England. #bookreview #romance #amwriting #selfpub #podcast Gerald Everett Jones is author of Bonfire of the Vanderbilts and host of the GetPublished! Radio Show. There's more advice for self-publishing authors at getpublishedradio.com.

Today's books are: Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery. McClelland and Stewart, 1921. The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson. Random House, 2016. Other things discussed today: Hardcore History podcast The War Poets at Westminster Abbey John McRae The text of "The Piper" from The Blythes are Quoted  

  Knitting Segments Program Mentions:    Thanks to designer Melanie Berg for sending me her latest pattern, Caress my Soul. It's absolutely beautiful!    Melanie also wanted me to direct you to a charity she is supporting, Knitters for Doctors without Borders, and encourage you to give if you can!      Show Ready Knits Foolproof by Louise Zass-Bangham    Dream Whisperer by Jenn Sheelen    Knits in Rehearsal Mrs. Jeckyl and Mrs. Hyde by La Maison Rililie   Kit Kat Hat by Andre Sue Knits I am knitting this as a part of the Pussy Hat Project, here is the link to the official pattern, that's knit flat.    Knits on Stage I wore my Viajante to school last week and got some nice compliments. I have also gotten so much use/wear out of my Worsted Boxy.    Knitting News, Notes and Events Several winners were announced on episode 64 for several contests. If you entered any of those giveaways or Knit a Longs, please listen to Episode 64 to see if you won. Winners need to get in touch with me by January 15, 2017.   Next planned Knitting Event: Zombie Knitpocalypse in June 2017   I'm so excited about our next knit a long, New Year, New Ewe!       Are you ready to try something new with your knitting? A new technique or type of product? Perhaps a designer you have never tried? A new type of yarn? Check out the episode for more information about this Knit A Long for 2017. Officially it will run January 1 through March 10, 2017. Check out the chatter thread in the Ravelry Group. Rules will be listed in the Ravelry group as well.   I am going to cast on the Vintage Prim by Andrea Mowry. Andrea Mowry is the designer behind the Find Your Fade Shawl.   Here is the tutorial I used to practice Brioche.      Knitting Talk Back: Year in Review Check out my project page in Ravelry to see the projects I reference in this segment. I have a tab for all of my 2016 projects.    Non-Knitting Segments Love it or Leave it Love: Winter Vacation from school!   Leave: Being sick on vacation!    Theatrical Updates Though I seem to be taking a hiatus from performing, I did see a show recently that's on a National Tour, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder.    Other News and Notes Running I have some smaller races coming up this Winter, and my training season officially starts on January 7, 2017.    Books I finished reading The Girls, by Emma Cline    I am currently reading The Summer Before the War, by Helen Simonson   Other Updates I participated in the MinsGame challenge for the month of December, in which you try to declutter your home and get rid of items everyday of the month.     

The bestselling author of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand - and bonafide Charming British Lady - Helen Simonson lets us in on her writing process, her thoughts on sunshine, and the perils of HGTV. Her latest novel, set in 1914, is The Summer Before the War.

Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode #192 with Lisa Louise Cooke Highlights from this episode: How to use Animoto, my favorite new tech tool for creating professional-looking slide shows and videos New Genealogy Gems team member Amie Tennant shares insights as she prepares for professional certification A listener shares a favorite genealogy database for finding recent relatives A listener uses DNA to connect adoptive and biological relatives—who were closer than she thought A segment from the Genealogy Gems Book Club interview with author Helen Simonson on The Summer Before the War News from Dropbox and a new initiative to capture the family histories of remote, indigenous populations   NEWS: Dropbox Improvement New on Dropbox: Now when you share Dropbox content with someone, shared links will stay active even if you move or rename the file or folder. Dropbox file-sharing tip: “If you ever want to unshare something you've already sent out (like to remove access to a sensitive document), it's easy to disable an active link.” Just sign in to . “Click the link icon next to the file or folder, and click ‘remove link' in the top right corner of the box that appears. You can also remove the link by visiting and clicking ‘x' next to the file or folder.”   NEWS: MyHeritage and Tribal Quest (on FamilySearch.org)   NEWS: New Premium Video : a new video available to by Your DNA Guide Diahan Southard Genealogy Gems Premium website membership: to learn more to watch a free video preview   MAILBOX: Russ Recommends the U.S. Public Records Index Russ blogs at : What to use while waiting for the 1950 census Russ recommends the “U.S., Public Record Index, 1950-1993, Volume 1 and 2.” “Volume 1 is far more interesting with more data. A search will return a Name AND Birth date, along with more than one ADDRESS, Zip Code and sometimes phone numbers.” Ancestry's description of its online database for Volume 1 says original data comes from public records spanning all 50 states, such as voter registration lists, public record filings, historical residential records and other household database listings. U.S. Public Records Index on Ancestry.com:  and Free partial version (1970-2009) at Another partial version (1970-2010) at Thoughts about using the U.S. Public Records Index (some of these points come from the ): Not everyone who lived in the U.S. appears in the index, and you're more likely to find birth information for those born between 1900 and 1990. What you'll find is primarily where someone lived, and often when they lived there. It's rarely possible to positively identify a relative in this index, since there's limited information and it spans the entire country for up to a half century, and you can't follow up on the record it comes from because the index doesn't say where individual records come from. As Russ says, this is a great resource to use in combination with other records. It's a similar concept to the way you might consult uncited family trees: great hints to go on and follow up with further research into verifiable sources. When you find more recent listings, you can sometimes find telephone numbers for living distant relatives. The Family History Made Easy podcast has a 2-episode series (episodes and ) about cold-calling techniques for reaching out to distant relatives you don't know.   MAILBOX: Katie on Cold-calling and Adoption and DNA Katie blogs her family history adventures at . to read a blog post with her story and see more pictures that go with it.   INTERVIEW: Amie Tennant Amie Tennant is the newest member of the Genealogy Gems team. She contributes to the blog at . She is also preparing to become a certified genealogist, which is a professional credential offered by the (BCG). What have you learned in the process of preparing for certification? “I think the biggest thing I have learned is the meaning of true exhaustive research. We talk a lot about that in our genealogy standards, but essentially, it is looking EVERYWHERE for EVERYTHING that might shed light on your research question.” Why do you want to become certified? I want a way to determine how well I am doing. A measuring stick of sorts. What is the process like? The process is the same for everyone. Once you have decided to become certified, you apply to the BCG. They send you a packet of information and you are “on the clock.” The clock is up in one year, unless you ask for an extension. The portfolio you create consists of: Signing the Code of Ethics Listing your development activities (like formal coursework or enrichment activities); Transcribe, abstract, create a genealogy research question, analyze the data, and the write the research plan for a document that is supplied to you; Do those same 5 things for a document of your choosing; A research report prepared for another person. A case study with conflicting, indirect or negative evidence; A kinship determination project (a narrative genealogy that covers at least 3 generations) There is a lot of great free content on the : articles, examples, and skill building activities.   GEM: How to Create Family History Videos Quickly and Easily which includes video tutorials and inspirational examples. Genealogy Gems App users can watch Episode #1 of the video tutorial in the Bonus content area.    BOOK CLUB: Interview excerpt with Helen Simonson, author of  The Summer Before the War Beatrice Nash is a bright, cosmopolitan young lady who has grown up traveling the world with her father. Now he's gone, and she's landed in the small village of East Sussex, England, where the locals aren't entirely thrilled about engaging her as a female Latin instructor for their schoolchildren. She spends a summer fighting for her job, meeting a local cast of engaging eccentric characters (both gentry and gypsy) and trying not to fall for handsome Hugh. Then the Great War breaks out. This novel follows Helen's popular debut novel, , which became a New York Times bestseller and has been translated into 21 languages.  can join us in June to hear our exclusive and fun interview with Helen Simonson.   GENEALOGY GEMS PODCAST PRODUCTION CREDITS: Lisa Louise Cooke, Host and Producer Sunny Morton, Contributing Editor Vienna Thomas, Audio Editor Additional content by Lacey Cooke, Amie Tennant 

Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode #191 with Lisa Louise Cooke   NEWS: Upcoming Live-Streaming from FGS from Periscope Free Periscope app in or  Lisa's Twitter handle: @LisaCooke   New German Records with James Beidler His new book: Trace Your German Roots Online: A Complete Guide to German Genealogy Websites. Jim mentioned this new website for Protestant church records: Links to new German genealogy databases: CHURCH. An enormous collection of  is now searchable on Ancestry.com. You'll find over 24 million records from “parish registers from numerous Protestant communities in Baden, today part of the German state of Baden-Württemberg…[and] some communities to the north, such as Wiesbaden in adjacent Hessen.” Another new Ancestry.com collection contains over a million birth, marriage and death records taken from  for 1685-1879. CIVIL REGISTRATIONS. Nearly 300,000 indexed names have been added to a free online collection of , Hesse, Germany (1811-1814, 1833-1928). IMMIGRATION TO U.S. A new database on Ancestry.com catalogs . MILITARY. Over 400,000 records are part of a new Ancestry.com collection of  (1712-1914). According to the collection description, “The core of the collection are the muster rolls created by recruiting commmissions including actual musters from 1894-1917 for men born between 1874 and 1899. These records are arranged in chronological-alphabetical order and contain detailed information about male military personnel in the city.” Get the book on sale at Shop Family Tree by clicking the link below and then save an additional 15% with our coupon code: $13.99 (Retail $21.99)   MyHeritage Book Matching Sunny's result:   Canadian Conferences Coming Up Lisa Louise Cooke at the , June 3-5, 2016 at the International Plaza Hotel, Toronto (CANGEN), October 21-23, 2016 at the Courtyard by Marriott in Brampton, Ontario   MAILBOX: Thom's Google Success Story with Google Earth and Google Books to read a blog post to see Thom's full story with his map overlay and the Google Book search result he found Learn more about Google Earth for genealogy: (Get started!) 2nd edition, by Lisa Louise Cooke (fully revised and updated in 2015) Google Earth for Genealogy video tutorial series: available as a or a   Donna's Evernote Question Q: What's the best way to move Evernote notes into notebooks? A: Sometimes getting organized can gobble up all your research time. So one approach I often recommend is just to move Evernote notes as you use them. That way you can keep researching, while getting more organized each day. As you create new notes you'll be putting them directly where they belong, and as you use existing notes, you can tidy them up as you go. If you feel more comfortable getting everything moved in one fell swoop, that's good too. One way to save time is with a simple trick: decide what you have more of (genealogy or personal) and then move ALL your notes into that notebook. Now you only have less than 1/2 of your notes that need to be moved. You can move the rest to the other notebook by selecting multiple notes at once. Here's a step-by-step breakdown: Click the Genealogy notebook in the left column.  2. In the center column are all of your notes. Click the first note in your list to be moved. 3. Hold down the Control key on your keyboard. 4. Now click to select each additional note. (Use the wheel on your mouse to scroll down as you need to. Your notes will be collecting in the right-hand window pane, and a dialog box will appear. 5. In that dialog box, click the Move to Notebook button and click to select the desired notebook from your list. 6. For good measure, click the Sync button to manually synchronize all of your notes. to find more great resources for using Evernote for genealogy, including free tips, step-by-step helps, a unique Evernote cheat sheet and free and Premium videos to learn more about Genealogy Gems Premium membership INTERVIEW: Amy Crow and 4 Apps for Local History (and Tips for Using Them) : “like Pinterest for history.” Especially strong for local history in England, Ireland, Scotland, but also wonderful for the U.S. A lot of organizations have added photos and curated them into collections, like Pinterest boards.  Follow libraries, archives and historical societies that are in towns where your ancestors lived. They may post historic photos from their collections. Instagram now has a feature where you can share photos with those you follow on Instagram. Use it to share a cool old picture that relates to your family history with a young relative. . This website and local history app (available through  and on  for iPhone/iPad) shows you historic sites around you when you turn on your location services. The resources, descriptions and bibliographic entries on this site are great to follow up with for your research.  At this site (or with the ) you can view historic photos plotted on a map near your current location. Use it to look around and ask the question, “What happened here?” if you're on a walk or visiting somewhere. The site is integrated with Google Street View. You can also upload your own old photos if you know where they were taken and do an overlay in Google Maps, in much the same way Lisa teaches about doing in .   GENEALOGY GEMS BOOK CLUB: The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson From Sunny: This novel takes place in a small English town just before and then right into the events of World War I. The heroine, Beatrice Nash, is trying to find her footing as an independent, educated woman. She's got a romance on the horizon, and she's getting to know some fantastic characters, gypsies and gentry when—bam, here comes WWI, first as rumors and dinner conversation, then as a trickle of refugees into town and finally as a horrible pull on their local young men into combat. Lisa always asks me when we're talking about possible titles for the Book Club, “What does this book mean to us as genealogists?” For me, The Summer Before the War does a couple of things. First, I think it can be difficult to imagine our ancestors in living color with a full range of human emotions. When we can find photos, they're black and white (or brown and white). When we find them in print, they're often more reserved in what they say than we like. Times were stricter then, and we may make assumptions about their passions and how they lived them out. What a novel like The Summer Before the War does for me is remind me that people at that times had just as many feelings as I do. They lived and breathed and loved and hurt and were tempted and frightened and everything else.  Yes, a novel is not a historically accurate re-creation of my ancestor's character (or anyone else's ancestor's characters, for that matter), but it places the human spirit in a certain time and place, perhaps a time and place that was also inhabited by my relatives. It helps me imagine their lives from a fuller perspective. The other thing I love about this book is that it reminds me that history didn't happen in neat intervals. Sometimes I separate out in my mind certain events in an ancestor's timeline. During these years they went to school, or got married and started a family, or worked as a teacher. But then you dump a war on top of that timeline. You realize that for some people, the war snuck in the back door of their lives and stayed there while they were trying to get married and start a family or work as a teacher, or all of the above. Of course, for those who went to the front or to whom the fight came, the story is more dramatic, but even then, the war happened to them within the context of other things that were already happening. The Summer Before the War is really good at showing how the conflict just gradually dawned on this English village, before becoming an everyday and grim reality for many of its residents, and the final chapter for a few of them. The book is The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson. Helen joins us for a fantastic conversation about the book in next month's Genealogy Gems Premium podcast (Lisa will put an excerpt from the interview into this free podcast, too). So use the link in the show notes to grab your copy of The Summer Before the War and enjoy it. It's a fun, easy read but with plenty of meat on its bones for those who love history---and re-imagining the lives of their ancestors.   DNA WITH DIAHAN: Changes at AncestryDNA Change is afoot at AncestryDNA. Again. While stability and predictability seem like honorable qualities in a company or product, when it comes to tech tools, in the ears of tech companies, those words sound more like dated and old. Of course, we are used to this by now. I had a client tell me recently that he wanted to be in touch sooner, but his grandson “upgraded” his computer to Windows 10 and then promptly left for college the next day, leaving him fighting with a new interface and operating system. The good news is, you won't have this problem with Ancestry's new update. There aren't any changes to the interface or the layout of the information. In fact, many of you will not even notice at first that your match list has changed. But in fact, there likely have been some adjustments made, as we see below: Some of your third cousins have been demoted to fourth cousins. Some of your fourth cousins have been demoted to 5th-8th cousins. Some of your Distant Cousins have disappeared off your match list You have new cousins on your Distant Cousin match list. In general, from what Ancestry has showed us, you gain more than you lose. Changes in the dregs of your match list may not seem like that big of a deal, so why am I telling you about it? Probably because I am a nerd, and I like cool science stuff, so I think you should too. You see, Ancestry has made some big changes in the way that they are calculating matches. They are getting better at it. Which means you match list is now more representative of your ancestral connections, even at the very distant level. There are two big pieces to this matching puzzle that Ancestry has tinkered with in this latest update: phasing and matching. You will remember our discussion on DNA phasing (link) and how it can impact your matching. Ancestry has developed a robust reference database of phased DNA in order to better phase our samples. Basically, they have looked through their database at parent child duos and trios and noted that certain strings of DNA values often travel together. Its like they have noticed that our DNA says “A black cat scared the mouse” instead of  “The brown cat ate the mouse” and they can then recognize that phrase in our DNA, which in turn helps our DNA tell the true story of our heritage. In addition to updating the phasing, Ancestry has revamped their matching method. In the past they viewed our DNA in small windows of information, and then stitched those windows together to try to get a better picture of what our DNA looked like. Now instead they have turned to a point by point analysis of our DNA. Again to use a sentence example, with the window analysis we may have the following sentence windows: ack and J ill went t he hill t etch a pai l of water. Of those windows you may share the “etch a pai” with another individual in the database, earning that cousin a spot on your match page. However, the truth is, that bit could say “sketch a painting” or “stretch a painful leg” or “fetch a pail.” With Ancestry's new method, they are able to see farther on either side of the matching segment, making this clearly “fetch a pail.” That means better matching, which means more confidence in your cousin matches. The downside to this update is going to come in the reorganization of some of your relationships. Ancestry has tightened their genetic definition of your third and fourth cousins. Basically, that means that some of your true 3rd cousins are going to show up as 4th cousins, and some of your true 4th cousins are going to be shifted down into the abyss of 5th-8th cousins. What is really upsetting about this is what this does to the Shared Matches tool (link). The shared matches tool allows you to gather matches in the database that are related to you and one other person, provided you are all related at the 4th cousin level or higher. This tightening of the belt on 4th cousins means that some of them are going to drop through the cracks of that tool, really limiting its ability. Grr. Hopefully Ancestry will fix that, and expand this tool to include all of your matches. They have their fairly good reasons for this, but still… So, as the winds of change blow yet another iteration of the AncestryDNA match page, I think we can see this as an overall win for doing genealogy with our genetics at Ancestry. Resources: Get Diahan's . Let Diahan Southard be Your DNA Guide. on her personal DNA consulting services.      PROFILE AMERICA: The First High School to their post

Genealogy Gems PodcastEpisode #190Lisa Louise Cooke Highlights from this episode: Extreme Genes radio show Scott Fisher talks about his role in helping to solve a 30-year old missing persons case; Lisa advises a listener on a pesky Gmail problem; A whirlwind world tour of new genealogy records online; Searching out military service details with Google Books; One RootsTech attendee's Google search success story the new  title, a brand-new, much-anticipated second novel by a breakout British novelist. Click the player below to listen: NEWS: NGS Streaming Sessions National Genealogical Society: NGS 2016 is offering registration packages for the following live-streaming lecture series: Thurs, May 5, 2016: Land Records, Maps and Google Earth How to Follow and Envision Your Ancestor's Footprints Through Time with Google Earth by Lisa Louise Cooke    More Conference Streaming Sessions by Lisa Louise Cooke: RootsTech 2016 (these are free!)       NEWS: New Genealogy Records Online , ,  and records for Western Australia on Findmypast.com; on FamilySearch.org; and  on Ancestry.com; on Findmypast.com; records on FamilySearch.org; at FamilySearch.org at FamilySearch.org; updated on Ancestry.com;  at FamilySearch.org on FamilySearch.org; at Findmypast  Illinois marriage records on FamilySearch.org in 3 collections: (hosted by the Red River Genealogical Society) at Ancestry.com--search for free;  at Ancestry.com updated    NEWS: Family Tree Maker Direct Import into RootsMagic .   MAILBOX: Carol and the Coast Guard in Google Books Google Books search on "USCG Beale:" Google.com search "coast guard history" 1920..1935 "Beale:”   MAIL: Gail's Trouble with Gmail If you're not receiving the Genealogy Gems free weekly email newsletter, consider these possibilities: Newsletters are going to Gmail spam. Click "Spam" in the left column and see if there are emails from . When you find one, mark it as "not spam" and move it to your inbox. Then add our email address to your Contacts Newsletter emails may be going to "Promotions" or "Updates" tab in Gmail. By default you are viewing only emails in the Inbox tab. Click the other tabs to look for ours. Click on an email and drag it onto the Inbox tab to try and get them to go to Inbox. If you search our email address in Gmail it should bring up any emails you have received in other tabs.    Gmail is a powerful, free tool for using and archiving email. That's why there's an entire chapter on Gmail in . Gmail can help you sort and even keyword-search your past email, and this book will show you how. MAILBOX: Neik from The Netherlands with Research Tips CONVERSATION GEM: Celeste's Google Search Success Story and Google Search Methodology Tips For Genealogy Gems Premium members (See all Premium videos at ): Common Surname Search Secrets Ultimate Google Search Strategies Digging Deeper into Web Sites with Google Site Search CONVERSATION GEM: Jillian on Irish adoption law   INTERVIEW: Scott from Extreme Genes Helps Solve a 30-Year Old Missing Persons Case   More “Cold Case” Inspiration: Premium Video: Genealogical Cold Cases (To learn about Premium membership )   BOOK CLUB: by Helen Simonson British author Helen Simonson's debut novel, , became a NYT best-seller and has been translated into 21 languages. Her newest book, The Summer Before the War, is another great read: light and charming, with a dash of romance and humor. It's so easy to read and love. It's the early 1900s, and main character Beatrice Nash has recently lost her father. The estate settlement lost her control over her own funds and freedom. She comes to a small English town as a Latin teacher and must mind her manners and local politics to keep her job. Beatrice meets a man and the appeal appears mutual, but he's already engaged. This isn't just Beatrice's story. You'll meet an entire village full of charming and irascible and expatriate and unconventional and way-too-conventional and mysterious characters, including the local gentry and the local gypsies. They all have their own stories, which unfold as they begin to experience the first great shock of the 20th century close-up: World War I. First it's the stunned refugees who they enter the quiet village in which the story is set, and the drama that unfolds as the village tries to rally and care for them. Eventually you'll see the battlefront through the eyes of a few characters who enlist, not all of whom are going to make it back home. Despite the realities they face, this is somehow still an easy and charming read, one into which it's easy to disappear. Helen Simonson will join us in June to talk about The Summer Before the War.

Elin prater om boka "Majorens siste forelskelse" av Helen Simonson. Bokprat fra 06.10.15

Helen Simonson's warm and humorous family story (with a lovely romance) "Major Pettigrew's Last Stand" Major Pettigrew's last stand: a novel DB 70760 Simonson, Helen

Gerald's book review of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson, aired Saturday, February 28, 2015 on The Mark Isler Show, 870 AM Los Angeles, at 9:40pm PT.

Helen Simonson , a British native who married an American and has lived in the U.S. for the past 20 years, provided lively, humorous commentary about how her novel, Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, describes life in a small English village.

Helen Simonson, author of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, talks to Sam about her novel. It's also our book club pick for January!