The Three Burials of Lotty Kneen

by Krissy Kneen

In her 2010 memoir, Affection, Krissy Kneen introduced readers to her unique family and the towering matriarchal figure of her grandmother. Stern, domineering, fiercely loving, Lotty Kneen—born Dragitsa—was always tight-lipped about her early life and family history. She rebuffed Krissy’s curiosity and forbade her from taking the trip back to the old country that might have satisfied it.

When her grandmother died recently, Krissy finally felt at liberty to explore the questions that had nagged at her for so long. In The Three Burials of Lotty Kneen Krissy sets out with a box containing her grandmother’s ashes, intending to trace the old woman’s early life in Slovenia and Egypt, and perhaps locate some remnants of family. Along the way she uncovers the extraordinary story of the colony of Slovene women who became the nannies of choice for the wealthy Italians of pre-war Alexandria—and identifies as best she can the places where Lotty’s restless, demanding spirit will be at peace.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography

320 pages, Paperback

First published May 4, 2021

About the author

Krissy Kneen has been shortlisted three times for the Queensland Premier's Literary awards. She is founding member of Eatbooks Inc and is the marketing and promotions officer at Avid Reader bookshop. Find out more about Krissy Kneen at www.eatbooks.com and www.avidreader.com.au

Reviews

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Krissy Kneen’s latest memoir provided me with a wonderful reading experience. Part loving tribute to her fierce, secretive grandmother, and part genealogical mystery, it gave me an insight to a family quite different from my own and to a 20th century cultural phenomenon that I knew nothing about; the Aleksandrinke of the Goriška region of Slovenia.

So close in life that Krissy called her grandmother ‘Mum’, it was only in death that Krissy felt able to delve into the past of her family’s formidable matriarch. Throughout her childhood she’d been granted access to only the sketchiest details of her grandmother Lotty’s life - from Slovenia, lived and married in Egypt, escaped to Britain during the 1950s on account of her husband’s British passport, settled in Australia. Having developed her own theories, she starts with a DNA test, but the result simply widens the mystery. Accompanied by her life partner, Krissy arranges to travel to Slovenia for 3 months to dig deeper. Here she learns about the women of Goriška and the economic migration of the early 20th century, largely to Alexandria, that was so substantial it spawned a name for the participants - the Aleksandrinke. When a chance encounter provides her with the opportunity to travel safely to Egypt, she decides to take it, to see who and what else she can find there.

I love a genealogical mystery, and reading this book was a bit like watching an extended and gripping episode of one of those TV shows where the celebrity discovers their origins. Krissy is smart and eloquent, but also extremely vulnerable as she goes on this emotional journey. It’s far from smooth sailing, and not all loose ends are neatly tied, but I was infinitely satisfied with what her research uncovered and what I learned along the way. I can only hope that she was somewhat satisfied too. Well done, Krissy!

With thanks to NetGalley and Text Publishing for an eARC to read and review.

[Cass Moriarty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have spent the last few days completely immersed in the life of my friend, author Krissy Kneen; eating her food, sitting with her family, traveling with her to foreign lands to try to understand her history. I have emerged from her memoir, blinking, like a mole too long underground. Reading this story is a meditative experience; her writing is transcendental and luminous. This book: The Three Burials of Lotty Kneen (Text Publishing 2021) is a magical, fantastical tale scaffolded by truth, lies and fairy tales, anchored to the earth by solid research and real-life fact-finding missions, embellished by wondrous fictional interpretations of whatever Krissy couldn’t pin down, and supported by the history and lore and cultural stories of her ancestors. It is a marvellous work of art. It is, I think, perhaps her greatest achievement yet, partly because it is so well-written, so easy to read, so engaging, so interesting. (There is a first division lotto win, the 40-degree heat of the Australian bush, the roiling of her grandmother as a snake in her gut, a sideways birth on virgin snow, wild women with their feet on backwards, a divided cemetery, genetic testing, knives and science and maps, Beautiful Viga and Baba Yaga and folklore and papier-mache dinosaurs, bicycles, dreams and twins).
But it is also astounding because it is her search for herself, and her quest to untangle the complicated threads of her grandmother and her maternal side of her family. This book IS Krissy. When I heard her speak recently at the launch, she was entirely comfortable, at ease in a way I have never seen her before. She talks about every aspect of the book – the unanswered questions, the unfamiliar journeys, the kind strangers, the new-found relatives, the dragons, the fairy tales, the secrets, the mystery, the grief and the food, always the food – she speaks about all these things as if she is a well-spring of words that may never dry up. She has stories about stories about stories. Her eyes shine as she shares her findings. This investigation into her family history has awakened something vital in her. Krissy Kneen is the same person and yet she is different, changed somehow. She is armed with knowledge of the previously unknowable, full with the weight of new friends and relations, comfortable with the pieces of her past that she has collected and sifted and sorted into some sort of order. She has indeed taken the threads of her grandmother’s life and woven a new tapestry. And it is something beautiful.
The title (and the subtitle: Travels with my grandmother’s ashes) depict exactly the story within. Krissy had always been kept in the dark about the details of her maternal history. Her matriarchal grandmother was tight-lipped about her past, secretive about her ancestry, and strongly possessive of Krissy and her sister, binding them to her with a sort of magical power. The night of the launch, a massive storm opened the Brisbane skies and a deluge of heavy rain slowed traffic and soaked everyone attempting to travel to Avid Reader Bookstore. That is Lotty, we all thought, showing her displeasure.
For there is no doubt she would have been displeased with Krissy’s curious and adventurous attempts to unravel the complex matrix of her life. But, and I believe this very strongly, I feel that she would also have been fiercely proud. Proud of how Krissy has honoured her life and her history by visiting those places, eating that food and interacting with those people that, added together, wipe away a little of the dust and smoke hiding her past, and allow us to really see her. We see her as a matriarch caring for her family and keeping them close the only way she knows how. We see her as a young woman, strong and independent and desperate to keep her family comfortable and safe. We see her as a child, alone and vulnerable and forced to survive on her wits and despite the intergenerational trauma suffered by not only herself but those before her.
That is what this story is: an honouring. Krissy mourns her beloved grandmother – her cruel, exacting, secretive, loving, indomitable grandmother – by travelling the world to search for the best lasting resting places for her ashes. She finds three locations, each imbued with meaning. As we journey along with Krissy to Slovenia and to Egypt, as we uncover with her the amazing story of the Alexsandrinke, the Slovenian women who gave up their own children to nanny the progeny of wealthy Italians before the war, as we weep and rejoice and laugh with her throughout her impossible, improbable travels, full of bizarre coincidences, we find relief each time she identifies a place that her grandmother’s ‘restless, demanding spirit will be at peace’.
This book is about terrible things – war, starvation, rape, sacrifice and grim determination. It is an engrossing, compelling story of isolation, ignorance, secrets and lies, power and control, trauma, grief and forced forgetting.
But it is also indelibly woven with tender and beautiful things – stoicism, identity, belonging, love, family, the discovery of truth, and the comforting settling of familiarity and understanding.
This is Krissy’s version of her story, her place in the world. It is her masterpiece.

[Jennifer (JC-S) · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Where does this story begin?’

Krissy Kneen’s grandmother Lotty (born Dragitsa) did not share much information about her early life and family history. Krissy always wanted to know more about her family but did not feel able to explore her history while her grandmother was still alive. Family histories are often complicated, especially if someone wants to forget or hide or escape from the past. Her grandmother did not want her to travel to Slovenia to explore the past. Who was Lotty Kneen, and what shaped her life? And why was this quest so important to Krissy?
‘Names hold power. My own name is not my birth name, just as my grandmother’s name is not the one she was given.’

With a box containing her grandmother’s ashes, Krissy Kneen set out to trace her grandmother’s early life in Slovenia and Egypt. Perhaps she would find other family members as well. What follows is a complicated, partial unravelling of Lotty’s life. Three countries, three lives, three burials. Lotty belongs in Slovenia, in Egypt, in Australia. And, as Krissy Kneen undertook her journey, she learns more about her grandmother and her own history.

This book is a journey of both discovery and memory. Krissy Kneen learns about her grandmother’s unknown past and remembers the woman she knew. The family dynamics are complex, the family history is full of mystery. Some facts emerge, but the reason behind some actions remains elusive.

‘Memory is all about overlapping versions of the truth. It is an unwinding.’

Reading this book, I gain an impression of Lotty Kneen of a strong, determined woman, keen to protect her family. Krissy Kneen has honoured her, by travelling back into the past and by consigning a portion of her ashes in countries where she lived and where her life was shaped. And now I want to read ‘Affection’ (Ms Kneen’s memoir published in 2010) to learn more about her family.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Text Publishing for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Krissy Kneen’s grandmother Lotty ruled her family with an iron fist. Her two daughter and two granddaughters were controlled in every aspect of their lives and were never allowed to ask questions about the family's past, particularly not Lotty’s own past. Lotty had set up a tourist attraction called Dragonhall in Australia that no one ever visited, and the family lived pretty much in isolation. After Lotty’s death, Krissy Kneen felt freed to explore her grandmother's past and find answers to the questions that Lotty refused to answer. Her voyage of discovery and self-discovery takes her first to Lotty’s native Slovenia where she learns the history of the Aleksandrinkes, a term applied to the girls and women of the Goriska region who went to Egypt, in particular to Alexandria, to work primarily as nannies for the wealthy Egyptian and ex-pat community, often leaving their own babies and children behind, sometimes never seeing them again for decades. This is itself is a fascinating story, one I’d never heard of, and I was glad to find an excellent documentary on Vimeo – I recommend it. Lotty herself was one such Aleksandrinke, and this takes Krissy on yet another journey, as she continues to explore her family’s past and legacy. Krissy Kneen is a poet and sometimes I found her prose style overwritten, but once I’d settled into the book I found myself more and more drawn into the story, finding it compelling and often moving. Family secrets, trauma, the search for identity, inheritance and heritage, all are explored with insight and compassion to make this an absorbing and powerful read.

[Jillwilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first heard about this book on Conversations, that richly rewarding radio show that airs on Radio National. (https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs...) It’s worth listening to the program – but maybe after you’ve read the book.

Krissy talked about how, after the death of her grandmother, she embarked on a search to discover more about why and how this woman had come to Australia some time after World War 2. Her grandmother had always been tight-lipped about her past.

Her grandmother, the Lotty of the title, exerted significant coercive control over her daughters and grand-daughters who “ensured we had no friends, no community, no other family. All we had was her.” This was made easier when Krissy was about 15 because her grandmother won the Lotto and moved the extended family up to a place she called Dragonhall, “in the middle of nowhere in central Queensland”. Kneen does a great job of describing the awfulness of this move – the poignancy of dreams about trying to turn Dragonhall, a gallery filled with papier-mache creatures that the family creates, into a tourist attraction. The place was doomed to fail, and the money that the family won dribbled away as they tried to make it work.

Kneen describes the family story as an “animal burrowing in my chest. A sad ball of fur and teeth, clawing to find its way out of me.” She is aware of how damaged her grandmother is, but scared and scarred by her too. But she also loves her. Her own mother and aunt have colluded in her grandmother’s control of the narrative and of the family. When her grandmother did speak it was a “scant pile of lies and myths”. It is only when Lotty dies that Kneen is freed in a way to actually find out more about her family history.

So she travels, first of all to Slovenia where she thinks Lotty was born. She undergoes a DNA test to try to see if her blood can give her more clues to her ancestry. A chance experience in Slovenia leads her to the discovery that her grandmother was an ‘Aleksandrinke’, one of generations of Slovenian women from the Goriška region who, from the 1860s to the 1950s, found employment as nannies and domestic workers to wealthy Europeans in Egypt. They were the forerunners of the foreign nannies that are used in places like Hong Kong and the Middle East as cheap labour today, women whose poverty has forced them to leave their own families behind and care for others.

I could write more about the events and family secrets that Kneen uncovers but she does it so much better than I would in summary and there is much pleasure to be had in travelling along with her as she uncovers each part of the story. She was very lucky – chance encounters and contacts along the way really helped her find out more and gave her personal support in what was a gruelling personal journey. I was reminded at times of ‘Max’, the book by Alex Miller that sought to uncover the back history of his friend – and the ways in which Miller gained support and friendship from people be met as he tried to research events of a very tumultuous time.

The other aspect that I thought was great about this book was the honesty with which Kneen explored the impact on herself of the life she’d been born into. Sher talks about the impact of intergenerational trauma and about how viscerally her family has impacted on her body. Her weight is a continual issue in the book: “I blame everything on obesity: my tiredness, my depression, my various viruses and flus, my lack of literary awards, every bout of writer’s block. In my head, every bad thing that happens to me is due to my weight.” She says: “Perhaps if I had some scientific answer, an understanding of the genetic switch that flicked on in my body when I was still a dream inside a dream inside my grandmother’s starving body, then I would learn to accept the body I am now in.”

I liked how this reviewer describes the context for this book: “The second and third generation Australian children of survivors of mass catastrophe and dislocation are often inculcated with the belief that their homeland is elsewhere. We grow up with the myth of a better life, but any attempted ‘return’ to places long since destroyed or irrevocably changed is emotionally fraught.” (https://www.australianbookreview.com....)

I haven’t paid proper attention here to the fiction elements of the book; the imagined witch Baba Yaga of Slavic folklore and to the krivopete: supernatural Slovenian wild women with backward-facing feet, fickle creatures who dispense help and harm in equal measure. These segments add to the sense of otherness that helps create the other world of Lotty contrasting against the very different Australian environment where her goal at all times is to protect her family. (At great cost to the family – but there’s the irony.)

This is a riveting read.

[Tez · Rating 4 out of 5]

For years, I've been hoping for Australian Gothic novels. I would not be so forward as to tell writers what to write, or even to suggest to them. Or, at least I wouldn't approach them one-on-one.

Instead, I'll put it here: Krissy Kneen would be my perfect choice to write Australian Gothic novels. She understands the different kinds of people who populate this land. She understands setting. She understands language. She understands the importance of history and future. She understands the scientific and paranormal. Read THE THREE BURIALS OF LOTTY KNEEN, and you'll agree. Although it is memoir (or non-fiction? I'm not good at categorising), reading about Dragonhall and the family secrets...

So, yeah. Just putting it out there: Krissy Kneen, Australian Gothic is totally your wheelhouse. Thank you.

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished reading Krissy Kneen’s latest offering THE THREE BURIALS OF LOTTY KNEEN. I felt every emotion Krissy experienced in search of her family, her story, her belonging. My heart raced and pounded with hers at particular moments of discovery. Love it.

[caithcantread · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Three Burials of Lotty Kneen by Krissy Kneen really intrigued me by the description. Family history is something that always intrigues me. I have not read Kneen’s previous work, Affection, but I do not think it is necessary as Kneen goes over the essentials in this book anyway. The book is divided into three parts, each representing a different journey for both Krissy and Lotty, spiritually and geographically; starting in Australia, travelling to Slovenia, and then ending in Egypt. I felt like this was a book that was necessary for Krissy Kneen to write as a process of grief and it is a deeply personal story to her. As much as I loved the storytelling, the language, the descriptions and the myths in the first part of the book, the other two parts really declined.

Part one of The Three Burials of Lotty Kneen held a lot of vivid imagery and many interesting aspects of storytelling, especially concerning fairytales and how such stories had such a deep impact on Krissy’s family life. Kneen describes how it was like growing up mostly around females (her grandmother, mother, aunt, and sister) with small mentions of her father and grandfather. Lotty Kneen was seen as a strict and protecting matriarchal figure, keeping everyone in her family protected and isolated from the world in a remote part of Australia. I wish Kneen had gone deeper into her family life here, as I feel like the information we were given was vague and the same elements were repeated. Similarly, I had hoped to learn more information with the male figures of the family and what had happened to them, how their presence impacted the household, but their presence was only mentioned in passing, and we never found out why Lotty Kneen wanted to avoid men for herself and her family. The Slovenian myths were extremely interesting and sprinkled throughout the book, adding a few more details every time they were mentioned, I also liked how Kneen speculated how her previous relatives must have lived in the past in a story-like manner. Kneen places a lot of attention on biology of the cells and the atoms that compose us; which I felt was unnecessary, if not a repeated theme that did not add much to the story.

From part two onwards, in which Krissy Kneen herself embarks on a journey of self-discovery, the writing style drastically changes and it feels as if I was reading someone’s travel blog, with a few findings of her family history and line sprinkled throughout. I appreciate that this was also about Krissy as much as it was about Lotty, however, many of the comments of her travels I saw as unnecessary as they were thoughts on how well they had travelled or how the places made her feel. When Kneen does find anecdotes relating to her family, it feels as if it was information that she had already gathered. I did find it amazing however the luck that Kneen had in finding people that knew of or were actual blood relatives to her, and how they could expand on the mysterious family tree, but no new information about Lotty’s mysterious past was actually revealed.

I did appreciate and found interesting the forgotten history of the Aleksandrinkes, Slovenian women who had to leave their country and families to be nannies for Egyptian women, specifically in Alexandria, to send money back to their families. The history of these women are rarely talked about, and it is interesting how they were painted in a negative way by those back in their homelands as they were seen to ‘abandon’ their families, when these women were the ones supporting their families. With this in mind, we find that Kneen’s great-grandmother was an Aleksandrike, who was able to bring her children to Egypt with her. However, we never find out anything about their personal story and how Lotty Kneen spent her formative years there, and why she never wanted to return or if she had any bad encounters.

I’m disappointed because the first part of this book started out extremely strong, only to fall afterwards and never get back up. Once Kneen spreads the last few ashes of her grandmother in Egypt, she does not conclude on how this journey of self-discovery has made her feel, this being strange as this was the whole reason she went. It does not end on any reflective thoughts or changed views of her grandmother, maybe because in the end we still never really knew who Lotty Kneen was.

I would recommend this book for people who share a similar history with Kneen about trying to connect pieces of their mysterious family members, or if someone is interested in the Aleksandrinke movement. Also to note, the pacing of the book can jump from the past, present, and to some small stories and myths, but I think this was done well and was not confusing. Yet I would only recommend part one as it was the most enjoyable and beautifully written part of this book.

[Debbie Terranova · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Krissy Kneen was a speaker at my authors' group a few months ago, I was intrigued by her latest book. I've read some of Krissy's work before. While I love the way she writes, I confess that I find explicit erotica confronting. So, when she said this was a quest of discovery to find her roots in a faraway land, accompanied by bucketful of family secrecy and a good slather of quirkiness, I was hooked. The memoir does not disappoint. In fact, I couldn't put it down. Krissy's storytelling is sublime. Her research tour of Slovenia and Egypt is thorough and personally risky. Gaps are filled with possibilities, family lies and fairy tales. Her metaphors are spot on; one I loved was the dream of Lotty Kneen, reincarnated as a snake. 'She is coiled up in a dark place ... she is coiled in the belly of her granddaughter. Big belly, big enough to hold the long snaking form she has become. The grit of rock, the crackle of grass, the heat of the sun.' This wonderful, uplifting story about personal discovery, grieving, and the pursuit of truth is highly recommended.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edit - It's not as good as Affection, her true masterpiece, but I found it soothing and interesting while I battled insomnia one night. Sorry, I've just read the comments I did not review the book enough so I'll try to put in a bit more about that. I just wanted to warn readers that she is not good to contact unlike the only other author I've ever contacted with whom I struck gold and who is way better known!
The Three Burials of Lotty Kneen introduces us to characters encountered in her brilliant memoir Affection. I really hated Lotty for her cruelty and the way she managed to subjugate so many people for so long. I'm glad she died and family members finally recovered and made their way in life. I enjoyed the descriptions of Eastern European folklore. Unlike other reviews, I actually preferred the writing style when the action moved out of Australia and was exposed to the different sights and sounds which Krissy evoked so well.
I did take a wrong turn though and emailed her at the readily available email on her website, heartened by the fact she said in this book she'd enjoyed hearing from a reader by email. I had actually written to the American author of 1000 Books to Read Before You Die to recommend Affection and hope for its inclusion in the next edition. I told Krissy this. Unless you want an email that does not address you by name and makes links to books of hers you know you actually don't want to read then maybe give emailing her a miss! I did send a short email thanking her for responding, but I doubt that was even read! You get such an impression of Krissy as curious and gregarious from Affection and this latest memoir - but she's not curious about her readership at all! So different to how I thought she'd be.
So I am someone who champions authors, in particular Krissy!
Trying to make this about there being something wrong with me is just crazy. There's no particular requisite for Krissy to be a good correspondent with her readers. But I am here for the reader. I wrote an earlier version of this review and two 'readers' - 'Poppy' and Gloria' stated their objections. I went into their profiles and they were created today, had only ever read this book and were also oddly from New Farm where Krissy said she lives. I have been sock puppeted by Krissy as she wanted to defend herself but was too proud to do it herself! I have never met Krissy, been in the same room as her or corresponded with her until very recently. I stand by my decision to recommend Affection to the author of 1000 Books to Read Before You Die. (less)

[Cathy]

Edit - It's not as good as Affection, her true masterpiece, but I found it soothing and interesting while I battled insomnia one night. Sorry, I've just read the comments I did not review the book enough so I'll try to put in a bit more about that. I just wanted to warn readers that she is not good to contact unlike the only other author I've ever contacted with whom I struck gold and who is way better known!
The Three Burials of Lotty Kneen introduces us to characters encountered in her brilliant memoir Affection. I really hated Lotty for her cruelty and the way she managed to subjugate so many people for so long. I'm glad she died and family members finally recovered and made their way in life. I enjoyed the descriptions of Eastern European folklore. Unlike other reviews, I actually preferred the writing style when the action moved out of Australia and was exposed to the different sights and sounds which Krissy evoked so well.
I did take a wrong turn though and emailed her at the readily available email on her website, heartened by the fact she said in this book she'd enjoyed hearing from a reader by email. I had actually written to the American author of 1000 Books to Read Before You Die to recommend Affection and hope for its inclusion in the next edition. I told Krissy this. Unless you want an email that does not address you by name and makes links to books of hers you know you actually don't want to read then maybe give emailing her a miss! I did send a short email thanking her for responding, but I doubt that was even read! You get such an impression of Krissy as curious and gregarious from Affection and this latest memoir - but she's not curious about her readership at all! So different to how I thought she'd be.
So I am someone who champions authors, in particular Krissy!
Trying to make this about there being something wrong with me is just crazy. There's no particular requisite for Krissy to be a good correspondent with her readers. But I am here for the reader. The fact that two people have mobilised with comments less than 24 hours after my review indicates you are here for the writer. I have never met Krissy, been in the same room as her or corresponded with her until very recently. I stand by my decision to recommend Affection to the author of 1000 Books to Read Before You Die.

[Declan Fry]

Human history is a vast compendium of accounts concerning a certain storied and life-changing trip. Call it One Weird Trick to Discover Yourself: origin stories, hero’s journeys, odysseys, passages from innocence to experience.

In Japan, the story of “Urashima Taro” tells of a young man who leaves his community; upon returning, everyone and everything he knows has gone (and perhaps there is a warning here about the dangers of leaving the community). In the white American story, the individual makes themselves anew, sloughing off tradition and taboo to become a kind of song of themselves, the Whitmanesque inhabitant of a private-yet-eagerly-universalising world in which “every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you”.

In Aboriginal Dreamings, we are told of what may come from forsaking one’s creators or progenitors – a metamorphosis occasionally reminiscent of Ovid. In 19th-century Western European story, a young provincial will duly undergo an immersion in experience and the Machiavellian realities of the urban heart: think of Dickens’ Pip, emerging almost from the grave into London in Great Expectations; Henry James’ Isabel Archer seeing her innocence vanish after travelling from America to Europe; or Stendhal’s Julian Sorel in The Red and the Black.

Krissy Kneen’s second work of memoir is both an origin story – the author attempting to trace her Slovenian forebears through the dense woods of familial silence – and a tribute to her eponymous grandmother, of whom Kneen wrote a Thomas Shapcott Prize-winning poetry cycle in 2015. Kneen’s grandmother, in her severity, her desire to dissemble and evade the question of her past and identity, stands between Kneen and a journey into the past, that “fragile path towards who I really am”.

Continues: https://www.theage.com.au/culture/boo...

[Tracy Mackay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Text Publishing for my copy.

I enjoyed reading about Krissy Kneen's journey of self discovery. What an interesting family history she has starting back in Slovenia, then going to Egypt and finally the harsh Queensland bush. I loved the folklore stories, fairy tales, the witches in the family, and also genetics. I could relate to her need to find out where she came from and can imagine if her grandmother and aunt weren't so tight lipped about their past that this story would be even more interesting as Krissy would be able to tell the whole story. I have unanswered questions about my own heritage and also have hit brick walls when asking questions from tight lipped relatives so can understand why the author made the journey to find out the truth.
The book is in three parts and the first part was a little confusing as it jumped all over the place, but I still found it interesting. The second and third parts flowed a lot better. Overall, an exciting read and I learnt some new parts of history I've never heard of before.

[~*kath*~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating mix of memoir and history. It's not an easy read, Krissy Kneen's prose can be prickly and uncomfortable with great swathes of sadness, but she manages to be so with a sense of wonder and beauty underlying all the difficult-ness. Sometimes it is triggering, hearing of her painful upbringing that can evoke memories of ones own childhood littered with abuse and trauma. Not to mention her internalised fatphobia that winds like a ribbon throughout the whole book. But somehow it's still worth getting past all of the prickliness and discomfort, because she takes you places other authors don't, or can't.

I do feel like I need a palate cleanser to read now, something fun and whimsical and light, but I am glad I read this book and feel like I've been shown something deeply private and meaningful while I did.

[Mojca Rudolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Iskanje neke preteklosti. Avtorica, avstralka ima korenine v Sloveniji. Ko njena stara mama, Slovenka po rodu, umre, se Krissy naposled odpravi po njenih poteh, ki jo vodijo v Slovenijo, pa tudi v Egipt. Odkrije zgodbe aleksandrink in niti, ki se vijejo iz preteklosti in imajo še zdaj vzorec sorodstva v obeh deželah.
Prijetna knjiga, a se mi zdi, da je nit včasih malce poniknila, preden se je spet znašla na pravi poti. Kar težko mi je bilo spremljati njeno otroštvo, prežeto z nadzorovanjem, predvsem pa z vsemi skrivnostmi, ki sta jih tako mama kot stara mama zadrževali zase. A vse to je avtorico peljalo na pot razkritij, ki so ji nedvomno pomagala, da je našla delček neodkrite preteklosti in se povezala z marsikaterim, še živečim sorodnik, nam pa je odkrivala Slovenijo skozi njene oči in trpke zgodbe aleksandrink, ki so morale za preživetje oditi v Egipt.

[Janilyn Kocher · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a while to sort out the story. In the beginning the author is all,over the place, deviating from the main narrative with side road siphons, which made the story choppy. Kneen’s family history is a snarled ball of yarn. The more she tugs on a loose end, the tighter the ball becomes. I was frustrated when members of her family refused to divulge family history. She had to travel thousands of miles to unravel the stories. I did like the book. Sleuthing for family history Is one of my favorite genres to read. Kneen’s family history is certainly diverse. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance read.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this book by accident in my local book shop. I decided to buy it as soon as I saw "Slovenia" in the blurb on the back. This beautifully written book is difficult for me to describe because so many emotions are wrapped up in it for me. Many of Krissy's experiences during her search for her family history and heritage mirror my own.
I think the need to find out and understand where you came from, especially if your family history is shrouded in mystery, is extremely important. I highly recommend that you pick this book up and follow Krissy (and Lotty's) journey to find the answers.

[Edward · Rating 4 out of 5]

I envy this author who discovered the story of her family by taking a journey to the countries began and where they lived. This book was clearly very personal and a real discovery by the author as her family refused to tell her their story. Someday, I hope I can do something similar. Congratulations to the author for working so hard to find her family and their story.

[Serena Ford · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Slovenia is one of the most beautiful and underrated countries in Europe. When I saw the review of this book my interest was piqued to learn more. I really enjoyed the descriptions of Slovenian culture and places. I had also never heard of the Alexandrinka’s and would like to read more. The book is well written. Very dysgfamily though. No wonder the author has so many problems.

[Sarah Pollard Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great read- Krissy Kneen carefully traces her grandmother and great- grandmother back to Slovenia and Egypt. Living memory interweaves with the slow unearthing of family history. Lotty Kneen does not appear to have been an 'easy' person, but much of this, and the tendency to cover trauma with tales or fairy tales and folklore becomes apparent.

[Larry D'librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A warm and engrossing memoir of family and identity. A fascinating journey to Slovenia and Egypt as Kneen tries to find the truth of her Grandmother’s early life and make sense of her own upbringing and foibles

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the author of Wintering (which I loved) this travel memoir traces Kneen's unknown family history to Slovenia and more. A tad disjointed at times (probably unavoidable due to the nature of the story) but a fascinating journey as the reader goes with her.

[Leeann Nolan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this beautiful, poignant novel was as though someone was wrapping their arms around me, giving me a big warm hug, saying, ‘I know, I know ...’

[Sue Mcgrath · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book and the journey that Krissy went on to discover her identity and history of her family. Also interesting to read about another culture.

[Viktorija Kante · Rating 4 out of 5]

Odlična!

[Brenda Rosser]

re-read for book club, enjoyed again

[Text Publishing]

The following reviews have been shared by Text Publishing - publisher of The Three Burials of Lotty Kneen

'This is an evocative and poignant exploration of memory and a fitting tribute to a cherished family member.’
Books+Publishing

'The Three Burials of Lotty Kneen is a generous, full-hearted, poetic attempt to understand the way we carry our ancestors within us, and how we might better know ourselves through knowing them.'
Guardian

'An extraordinary tale…A paean to the enduring power of Lotty Kneen…who passed on the gift of storytelling to her granddaughter.'
Australian Book Review

'Compelling and beautifully written. A road map filled with many women's voices, recipes and memories.'
Chris Gordon, Readings

'This story soars far and wide between remote Australia, mid-century Egypt, and modern-day Slovenia; it is a generous and joyfully spirited adventure which embraces embellishment, fantasy, and uncertainty. While pulling at threads of genetic history, Kneen accepts this can only ever be incomplete.’
Otago Daily Times