Keith Warren

Killing the Cobra and other heirlooms Keith Warren

Genealogy can be dead boring. So to speak. An overly analytic, "descendants' tree" approach to genealogy, whilst it might show connections that may not previously have been known, can ultimately become very utilitarian because we may know nothing of the personalities or lives of the people on the tree. They are just names and dates. So the author resolved to try to write it another way. Keith Warren delves into the backs of cupboards and old crocodile leather suitcases to uncover some of his family's past. But many details are missing. What is this? Who is this? Why did Grandad burn those papers? Why did this happen? Why is this date suspect? Some of the items seem to speak for themselves...and so the "heirlooms" come to life. Great Grandad Albert's 1874 mantel-clock; a print of a Mexican lady with swelling, child-rearing breasts; a child victim of meningitis; the delicately constructed suicide chair; the table of spoons; a hand-written account of lost rowlocks; a grimacing Indian trying to behead a cobra; some Australian serviette rings and a rusting LEC fridge, circa 1958, still used for chilling the beer. The author's following of readers (well, Dave and Alan anyway) will be surprised to learn that there are just a couple of mild cuss words here so that this book carries NO FILTH WARNING. Sorry to disappoint. .