New Titles and Recommendations April 2026

Mystery 
The Girls Before | Kate Alice Marshall
Mystery 
Aus Mystery 
Dark Desert Road | Tim Ayliffe
Aus Mystery 
Haze | Sam Elliott
Aus Mystery
Old Games | Fiona Hardy
Aus Mystery 
On The Edge | Kate Horan
Aust Mystery
Antihero | Gregg Hurwitz
Aus Mystery
Two Islands | Ian Kemish
Aus Mystery
Shellybanks | Louise Milligan
Aus Mystery
The Cursed Road | Laura McCluskey
Aus Mystery
Aus Mystery
Aus Mystery
The Pact | Lisa Walker
Historical 
The Strawberry House | Rachel Burton
Historical 
The Shock of the Light | Lori Inglis Hall
Historical
The Girols of Good Fortune | Kristine McMorris
Historical
Meet the Newmans | Jennifer Niven
Historical
The Orphans at the Irish Adoption House | Michelle Vernal
Historical
The Inn at Penglas Cover | Lauren Westwood
Historical
The Violin Maker's Secret | Evie Woods
Aus Historical
A Far-Flung Life | M.L. Stedman
Romance
The Island Retreat | Cathy Kelly
Romance
An Almost Perfect Summer | Alice Feeney
Romance
This Book Made Me Think of You | Libby Page
Aus Romance
The Last Poem | Courtney Peppernell
Novel
The Secrets of the Lost Vineyard | Erin Palmisano
Aus Novel
Iluka | Cassie Stroud
Aus Novel
Three Summers | Karen Swan
Aus Novel
In a Common Hour | Sita Walker
Psychological
My Husband's Wife | Alice Feeney
Non Fiction
Letter from Provence: A Memoir | Sheryle Bagwell
Non Fiction

Rosemary's Newsletter

Authors of the Month

Fiona Lowe

Fiona has lived in Edmonton Canada, Madison Wisconsin, and currently lives close to the Great Ocean Road in Victoria. In 2005 she sold her first Medical Romance to Harlequin Mills and Boon. Since then she’s sold nine books won a Catarmomance Reviewer’s Award and has been nominated for the Ruby (Australia’s premier romance writing award).

Fiona Lowe, author

Anna Johnston

Anna lives in Melbourne with her husband and daughters. The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife is her first novel.

Anna left an imminent career in medicine to follow her heart into her grandfather’s nursing home where she became the social support coordinator, When injury let her unable to continue, she began to write about
it. Anna has enjoyed a lifelong passion for theatre, screenplay, travel and creative ageing.

Anna Johnston, author

Both Fiona & Anna will be in conversation at the BMI this month. Find out more below.

Book of the Month

A Far-Flung Life

M.L. Stedman

Western Australia, 1958 where, for generations, the MacBrides have lived on a remote sheep station, Meredith Downs. A million acres, it’s an ocean of arid land.

One ordinary day, on a lonely road, patriarch Phil MacBride swerves to avoid a kangaroo. In seconds, the lives of his entire family are shattered.

Then, instead of leaving them to heal, fate comes back for them in a twist of consequences that will cause one of them to lose their life, and another to sacrifice theirs for the sake of an innocent child. Matt, the youngest MacBide, is plunged into a moral and emotional journey for which there is no map, no guide, as he is forced to choose between love and duty, sacrifice and happiness.

Recommeded Reads

The Inn at Penglas Cove

Lauren Westwood

When Juno’s marriage implodes, an unexpected inheritance offers her a way out: a crumbling inn perched high on a Cornish cliff, left to her by a great-aunt she never knew.

Hoping to give her children a fresh start, Juna swaps city life for windswept coastal walks and salty sea air…only to find that the Cross Keys Inn is steeped in secrets. Loads talk of pirates and a mysterious ghost shop connected to the chilling tale of Bess Trevelyn, murdered at the inn two centuries before. Meeting the handsome but cold landowner Will Penhelion, a descendent of poor Bess’s husband, Juno realises the past and present are entwined in ways she never imagined.

This Book Made Me Think Of You

Libby Page

When Tilly Nightingale receives a call telling her there’s a birthday gift from her husand waiting for her at her local bookshop,it couldn’t come as more of a shock, as her husand Joe died five months ago.

The gift is simple – twelve carefully chosen books from Joe, one for each month…

Shellybanks

Louise Milligan

On the sands of Shellybanks, where tides can quickly turn treacherous, journalist Kate Deleney once nearly drowned. Years later, reeling from a violent cime that has upended her life in Melbourne, she returns to Dublin to comfort her beloved aunt Dolores-only to discover Dolores has her own buried trauma.

As a teenager, Dolores was drawn into a disturbing religious movement that stole her youth, her freedom, and so much more. With Katie’s help she is determined to confront the powerful network that made her suffer years
of silence and shame.

Guides in period costume

Minerva's Secrets Night Tours

Night Tours

Fri 31 Oct – Sat 15 Nov

& Fri 12 Dec
 

Tour 1 at 7pm
Tour 2 at 9pm. 

Linen & Lace Exhbition

Includes Devonshire Tea | $20

Sat & Sun 22, 23 Oct
10am-4pm

Remembrance Day:

A Surgeon Commander & A Leading Cook - Recent War Memoribilia

Wed 29 Oct & 5 Nov, 5.30pm

Thu 16 Oct – 19 Oct 

 Coming soon

Rozzi Bazzani. Stella Day Out: Katia Ariel & Samah Sabawi, Rachael Johns

 Coming soon

Dianne Dempsey, Chrissie Bellbrae, Paula Gleeson, Rozzi Bazzani.

Raise a Glass for Brass

The Little Brass Band BMI Fundraiser

Sun 10 August at 2pm

Tracey Lee Holmes: A Life Through Sport

Thu 4 September at 6pm

with Michael Robotham

 Wed 20 August at 6pm

 Coming in November

Stella Day Out, Ballarat, Rachael Johns & Margaret Hickey

Ballarat Winter Festival

Events at BMI

5 July – 27 July 

Ballarat Pride Month

Events at BMI

The Month of June 

Ballart Seniors Festival 

Celebrate at the BMI.

 October 2025

with Gail Holmes

 Wed 4 June at 6pm

with Nicole Alexander

28 May at 6pm

Ballarat Heritage Festival BMI Day Tours

Two tours  on 20 &  21 May 

 

portrait of author with book cover

Australian Heritage Festival

Natasha Lester in conversation

1 May at 6pm

guides dressed in period costum

Australian Heritage Festival

Minerva's Secrets

25 April – Tour 1 at 7.30pm – fully booked
Tour 2 at 9.30pm – still tickets. 

portrait of author with book cover

Australian Heritage Festival

Natasha Lester in conversation

1 May at 6pm

Dame Nellie Melba Birthday Celebration

  Performance – 18 May.

Ballarat Heritage Festival Events at the BMI

16 to 25 May 

Spring Season, History Talks:

Ballarat's Henry Lawson - The Dragon's Den - Gold! Gold! Gold!

Wed 3, 17 & 24 September, 5.30pm

Australian Heritage Festival Events at the BMI

18 April to 18 May

Dame Nellie Melba Birthday Celebration

  Performance – 18 May.

Christmas Holiday Closures | Library

Monday 23 December – Sunday 5 January

Devonshire Tea & Fashion Parade

Bubbly on arrival & Featuring quality items from our Vintage Shop | $60

The Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute 2026 Calendar

Featuring illustrations from our Heritage Book Collection $40

Tax Deductible 

Your gift will be tax-deductible this financial year if you make it before June 30.

We need
your help.

2024 End of Financial Year Appeal 

Or alternatively go to our Donations web page.

Our Challenge

Like many organisations the BMI faces significant funding challenges. 

We thank you for your support.

BMI Fundraiser

Featuring:
The Hideaways,
The Harmonies &
Surf Shadows. 

2 course dinner & lots
of dancing