Summary

In “Dust and Ashes,” Taylor first introduces her older siblings, Sarah and Eliot. She launches into a description of her childhood when her mother would often take the three children to visit her younger sister Jenny and Jenny’s husband Ranald. These trips occurred without their father, who was absent on trips around the world or simply not invited. According to Taylor, “he didn’t come because my mother preferred to travel without him” (41).

These visits were precious to Taylor, who sat with the adults and listened to them speak of her mother and Jenny’s Queensland childhood, their own mother, Ril, and other family stories. Jenny and Ranald were good friends of her mother’s and Taylor states her own affection for them. Ranald would take the kids with him to his repair jobs while Jenny would load them up with...