Despite an ever-increasing literature on Evangelicalism, the fate of the movement in the late nineteenth century and especially in the Church of England remains almost a closed book. The archive left by the prodigious Bickersteth family, has given Margaret Ford an ideal opportunity to cast light on this neglected subject. Using this material Ford has produced a lively portrait of Samuel and Ella Bickersteth, both heirs to inter-connected Evangelical dynasties, and their six sons. A number of themes emerge: a particularly Evangelical combination of affection and anxiety in the nurture and education of children; the influence of a succession of indomitable Evangelical women; the persistent search for connections by a middle-class family with its way to make in the world; and the impact of the First World War on an inherited religious tradition. The book is beautifully produced but none the less has serious shortcomings. While confident about its seminal influence on the family, this study is surprisingly lacking in curiosity about the nature of the Bickersteths’ religion and the light that it might have to shed on transitions in the Evangelical tradition. It might be possible, for example, to agree with Ford that the predilection of some of the younger Bickersteths for auricular confession and the reservation of the sacrament was in essential continuity with the Evangelical sacramentalism of their great-grandfather Edward Bickersteth, but quite how is unexplored. Neither, in the absence of footnotes or bibliography, is it possible to follow up the many insights that the volume provides. An attractive introduction then for the general reader but for a contribution to scholarship it would be better to turn to the author's own PhD thesis.