Author to talk on zesty new book

ANNA Johnston will be the next author to appear at the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute’s In Conversation series, with a 90-minute session scheduled for Thursday 30 April at the institute library.

The event, which will take place from 6.30pm to 8pm, will be held just two days after the release of Johnston’s new novel When Lemons Give You Life.

It follows retired Michelin-star chef Griff Barlow, who has lost his appetite. He’s done with grief, guilt and the beige slop they dare call food at Sunny Glen Aged Care Facility, where he now resides.

Life has given him all the lemons he can handle – so he breaks into the nursing home kitchen to bake himself one last tart. It’s supposed to be his final meal, but the act of cooking stirs a dormant joy.

Soon, Griff is regularly sneaking in after dark, serving up flavour and comfort to his fellow residents – but behind the apron is a lie so big it could destroy the one thing he has left to protect.

The story draws on Johnston’s experience working in aged care and is said to offer a rare and compassionate perspective on how people diagnosed with dementia are often dismissed, underestimated and quietly erased.

Johnston grew up in country Victoria and now lives in Melbourne with her husband and daughters.

She became the social support coordinator at her grandfather’s nursing home before injury curtailed her work there and led her to start writing about aged care.

When Lemons Give You Life follows the Melbourne writer’s 2024 debut The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife, which has been optioned by Netflix.

This was Penguin’s most successful local debut in 2024 and now sits on more than 90,000 ‘Want to Read’ lists on Goodreads.

It has attracted more than 70,000 reviews, 47 per cent of which have five-star ratings.

Johnston will be in conversation with Jane Nield.

Tickets for the Ballarat session, in the institute’s Humffray Room, are $11.78 and can be booked at events.humanitix.com/anna-johnston-bmi

The institute is at 117–119 Sturt Street.