Bone Memories
by Sally Piper

This third novel from acclaimed Queensland author Sally Piper focuses on the repercussions, within one family, of a terrible crime.

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Overview

Even though sixteen years have passed, Billie will never recover from the murder of her daughter, Jess, and clings to her memory — and the site of her death — like a life raft. Daniel, who was a toddler when his mother was killed, can recall little of what happened but knows if he’s to have any chance of a better future he needs to move on from that defining event – if only his grandmother would let him. Meanwhile Daniel’s stepmother, Carla, also feels trapped by Jess’s legacy but has a plan that she believes will help everyone to escape from the long shadow of the past.

Deeply human, evocative and beautifully written, Bone Memories explores themes of human connection and the memorialisation of place.

Details

Awards

Reviews

EBook

Kristina Olsson

‘Bone Memories is a tender, wise and forensic look at what the earth holds — the roots of the living, the secrets of the dead, the memories of all who came before. It is a celebration of the power of witness, as well as the power of nature — and an elegy to its loss’

Holly Ringland

‘Sally Piper’s writing goes straight to the heart of things; how we grieve, love, survive, and remember. Her fiction asks fundamental questions about nature, earth, and our bodies: where does trauma and memory live and linger? How do we memorialise what we cannot bear to forget? Bone Memories is a powerful exploration of conflicts, common ground, and what it means to own our stories.’

Kate Mildenhall

‘Bone Memories got right under my skin … Tense and compelling, Piper has written a page-turner that is also an elegant meditation on memory and grief and the ground we tread.’

Lucy Treloar

‘At the heart of this moving and beautiful book is the tender exploration of a family and the love that holds them together, and their reckoning with unspeakable grief. Piper is such a vivid and acute observer of people and place that Bone Memories seems both perfect and, when it ends, a personal loss. I loved it.’

Sally Piper

Sally Piper is the author of three novels: Grace’s Table (2014); The Geography of Friendship (2018), which was shortlisted for the ABIA Small Publishers’ Adult Book of the Year; and Bone Memories (2022), a finalist in the Queensland Literary Awards for a Work of State Significance and the People’s Choice Book of the Year Award, and longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award and a Davitt Award. Her short fiction and non-fiction have been published in Australia and the UK, including in Griffith Review, The Saturday Paper, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Weekend Australian. Sally holds a Master of Arts (Research) in Creative Writing from Queensland University of Technology. She is an active member of the Queensland writing community, where she presents workshops, leads in-conversations and mentors other writers.