As referenced in

WDYTYA? Magazine, March 2019

Author contributes to 'Tracing your family tree' feature

Let's Talk, March 2019

Especially useful for historians with ancestors living near county boundaries over which the population strayed as the counties of Cambridgeshire and Suffolk in particular share borders with Essex. The author stresses the importance of tapping local knowledge and experience to determine how your ancestors lived,worked and moved around.

Essex Family History Society

This is a very useful guide for anyone with roots in this part of the world.

Family Tree, July 2018

All in all, I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone with ancestors in this area.

WDYTYA?, July 2018 – reviewed by Debbie Bradley

This is not a book to rush through but to devour slowly and, having read it, to dip into various sections again and again, each time discovering more.
Not one of the many books guiding you step-by-step through the mechanics of basic research, Gill Blanchard tells how and which records can be used to “put flesh on the bones” showing how on-line and off-line research compliment each other.
On our journey through the pages we discover many interesting snippets such as Stowbridge Fair was the largest in Europe and believed to be John Bunyon’s inspiration for Vanity Fair in Pilgrims Progress and one of the most unusual loads carried by train was when a stuffed giraffe travelled from London to Ipswich Museum in 1909. There are tantalising glimpses of smuggling, pirates, tithe wars and a tuberculosis colony at Papworth in 1921.
At the end of each chapter are excellent sections called “Finding out More” and “Bringing it to Life” .
Containing an excellent Resources Directory, Bibliography and Index this is certainly a book to be on every family historian’s bookshelf. It definitely has a place on mine.

Norfolk Family History Society