Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Interesting, very interesting. I had not realized how very inbred the European royal families were! Interesting to read about the results of the inbreeding.

NetGalley, Heather Bennett

This topic has always fascinated me to some degree. I learned a lot of new things. I thought the book flowed well and did not get too technical. I felt I could easily follow and it certainly kept my interest. We learn about European royalty and Egyptian royalty. This was a great non fiction book with evident research. I read it in two sittings!!

NetGalley, leslie collins

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

This was such a good read, and it had a lot of interesting information. The information was laid out in an easy to understand format, and was easy to understand. I enjoyed how each chapter was set up and truly learned so much from this book. I recommend this book to anyone who has a fascination with history or even genetics.

NetGalley, Megan Craddock

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

‘While each dynasty may have had different formalities, they all had one thing in common: intermarriage was intentional.’

Juliana looks into inbreeding and the consequences of this taken place.

We learn about Tutankhamun’s painful afflictions to King George III’s mental health and the rare blood disorder that affected Queen Victoria’s family to name but a few.

Juliana has clearly done a lot of research into this topic, and I found myself surprisingly consumed with every chapter.

The key message from this book? Don’t sleep with your relatives!!!

However, throughout history this has been ignored either due to naivety or because of the strong desire to keep ‘their bloodlines pure’.

You can read this book without knowing any prior history.

I always find with these history books, that they add many more books to ones TBR!

‘Philip and Mariana were convinced that the death of their children was a punishment from God and had no understanding that the family’s incessant inbreeding likely caused it.’

A must read for history lovers. Very interesting and unputdownable.

NetGalley, Georgi Lvs Books

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

This book is fascinating and terrifying, it had a great concept and was everything that I wanted from this book. It was a interesting concept a uses the history of royal inbreeding is interesting and I appreciated it showing the consequences. Juliana Cummings does a great job in showing the research and glad it was so well done.

NetGalley, Kathryn McLeer

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

This is only my third book by Miss Cummings but like the ones before it will not be my last. This is a great book well researched and well executed and it is a book I highly recommend a total five-star read.

NetGalley, Janalyn Prude

This detailed, thoroughly researched book covers many decades and countries to give an intriguing insight into the health of royal families across the world. There are some well known cases included but also many more obscure cases which are equally fascinating. The author does a very good job of exploring cases within their historical context, noting how the beliefs and biases against homosexuality and mental illness influenced the treatment of people.

NetGalley, Louise Gray