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'From inside her Toorak mansion, Margaret, matriarch, widow of Edmund Rice O’Day of O’Day Funerals, secretly surveys her family in the garden. Everyone, including Margaret herself, is oblivious to the secrets that threaten to be uncovered by a visiting American relative who is determined to excavate the O’Day’s family history. How far will Margaret go in order to bury the truth? Family Skeleton examines the dark heart of a family that has for generations been engaged in dark business. You can’t dig a grave without disturbing the smooth surface of the ground.
'Deftly woven with elegant wit and with compassion, this dark comedy is about what you might unearth if you dig deep enough.' (Publication summary)
Notes
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Epigraph: 'The Storyteller knows what the Storyteller knows; the Storyteller tells what the Storyteller tells.' - CARRILLO MEAN When Where Why How
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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[Review Essay] Family Skeleton
2017
single work
essay
review
— Appears in: Long Paddock , vol. 77 no. 1 2017;'Carmel Bird’s new novel is a fractal satire on the dynastic family novel – replete with the customary tropes of the genre: secrets repressed and confessed in the stratigraphy of a garish baroque of class signifiers. Family Skeleton relates the travails and intrigues of an inbred clan of parvenu undertakers, episodically followed over several generations through a pastiche of anecdote and gossip.' (Introduction)
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NRB Reviewers Pick Their Best Books of 2016
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , December 2016;
— Review of The Dry 2016 single work novel ; Family Skeleton 2016 single work novel ; Wisdom Tree : Five Novellas 2016 series - author novella ; The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings 2014 selected work short story -
Turning Pages : In Praise of the Winning Carmel Bird
2016
single work
column
— Appears in: The Age , 28 October 2016; 'How splendid that Carmel Bird has won the 2016 Patrick White Literary Award. Not only has she made an outstanding contribution to Australian literature; she has also shown how a patient, enterprising and undaunted writer can find pathways to publication, and have fun on the way.' -
Family Skeleton Review : Carmel Bird's Witty Dissection of a Wealthy Family
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Brisbane Times , 30 September 2016;
— Review of Family Skeleton 2016 single work novel 'The mordantly witty Family Skeleton, supposedly related from a wardrobe by one of them, is Carmel Bird's ninth novel, and as vibrant and off-beat as those that have happily gone before. The O'Day family, its fortune made as funeral directors, especially to Melbourne's rich, and latterly from the death-driven theme park Heavenly Days, lives in the mansion Bellevue, built for them in Toorak in 1933. ...' -
Secret Scandals of the Well Connected
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 1-2 October 2016; (p. 20) The Sydney Morning Herald , 1 October 2016; (p. 20)
— Review of Family Skeleton 2016 single work novel
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The Autumn of the Toorak Matriarch
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 24-25 September 2016; (p. 24)
— Review of Family Skeleton 2016 single work novel -
Secret Scandals of the Well Connected
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 1-2 October 2016; (p. 20) The Sydney Morning Herald , 1 October 2016; (p. 20)
— Review of Family Skeleton 2016 single work novel -
Family Skeleton Review : Carmel Bird's Witty Dissection of a Wealthy Family
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Brisbane Times , 30 September 2016;
— Review of Family Skeleton 2016 single work novel 'The mordantly witty Family Skeleton, supposedly related from a wardrobe by one of them, is Carmel Bird's ninth novel, and as vibrant and off-beat as those that have happily gone before. The O'Day family, its fortune made as funeral directors, especially to Melbourne's rich, and latterly from the death-driven theme park Heavenly Days, lives in the mansion Bellevue, built for them in Toorak in 1933. ...' -
NRB Reviewers Pick Their Best Books of 2016
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , December 2016;
— Review of The Dry 2016 single work novel ; Family Skeleton 2016 single work novel ; Wisdom Tree : Five Novellas 2016 series - author novella ; The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings 2014 selected work short story -
Turning Pages : In Praise of the Winning Carmel Bird
2016
single work
column
— Appears in: The Age , 28 October 2016; 'How splendid that Carmel Bird has won the 2016 Patrick White Literary Award. Not only has she made an outstanding contribution to Australian literature; she has also shown how a patient, enterprising and undaunted writer can find pathways to publication, and have fun on the way.' -
[Review Essay] Family Skeleton
2017
single work
essay
review
— Appears in: Long Paddock , vol. 77 no. 1 2017;'Carmel Bird’s new novel is a fractal satire on the dynastic family novel – replete with the customary tropes of the genre: secrets repressed and confessed in the stratigraphy of a garish baroque of class signifiers. Family Skeleton relates the travails and intrigues of an inbred clan of parvenu undertakers, episodically followed over several generations through a pastiche of anecdote and gossip.' (Introduction)
Awards
- 2017 longlisted Davitt Award — Best Adult Crime Novel
