Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute

Crafting Conversation: The Jewellers Edition
2025-09-10 17:00 - 19:30 (Australia/Melbourne) | The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute, 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC, 3350, Australia
In Conversation with Paula McLean

February 25

@

6:30 pm

-

8:00 pm

$11.78

Humffray Room

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The One Remaining

Paula McLean

The One Remaining is a captivating story of overcoming loss, finding the courage to trust those who believe in us, and the self-healing power of writing our stories.

Hilary Mason is thirteen when her sister Elaine disappears. She fears someone close to the family is involved but represses her suspicions. As an adult, Hilary becomes a successful novelist. In her fifties, she comes upon a stack of her old diaries, which document the trauma she’s endured. She decides she is ready to face the hidden backstory of her life. She embarks on writing a memoir, Hilary’s Story, which will take her through her worst years and her best years, through courage and endurance, through friendship and great love.

‘The One Remaining is a wise, beautiful and moving novel about the whole of a woman’s life. I lived with the main character Hilary through her griefs, suffering and great joys. I cried as I read, then I wiped my eyes and smiled. McLean shows us how surviving loss and trauma is not linear or clear, but gives a depth and richness to life nonetheless.’ Sophie Gee, The Secret Life of Books podcast

About the author

Paula McLean, Author

Paula McLean is the immediate past Deputy Chair and Patron of the Stella Prize, and now a NSW Ambassador. I am on the board of the Country Education Foundation, a member of the She Gives Advisory Group and a trustee of McLean Foundation, which supports conservation, education, domestic violence and literature. I began the Nature Writing Prize, administered by The Nature Conservancy Australia. A former fiction and educational publishing editor, I am also the author of Good Foods for Babies and Toddlers.

This event will be supported by Collins Booksellers on Lydiard

$11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042

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This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work, learn and create. Always Was, Always Will Be, Aboriginal Land.

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