Kate Atkinson’s Behind the Scenes at the Museum can be considered a trauma narrative from several points of view. The novel is not just about a girl who wants to get know herself, to cope with a childhood trauma that had swept out her safe sense of identity, but it is also about the traumas of 19th and 20st century British society as well. The reader can get know four generations whose troubles and traumas seem to be unified in the protagonist, Ruby. However, Ruby, the protagonist, her way of self-realization; and the historical, social and cultural background of the day also play an important role. By historical background I mean both personal and family history (genealogy) and world history (the two World Wars). Ruby has to take the long road from the one to the other while she finally can get know her personal history. In my thesis I will follow this pattern and examine the novel as a trauma narrative. I will interpret the era and the family background in the context of personal and collective trauma while I investigate the main theme of the novel, Ruby’s trauma of losing her twin sister.