In Conversation with Anna Johnston

Retired Michelin-star chef Griff Barlow has lost his appetite for life. Widowed, grieving and living in an aged care facility where beige slop passes for food, Griff is done – with guilt, with loneliness and with the lie that made headlines when he was diagnosed with dementia.

Planning one final act, Griff breaks into the nursing home kitchen to cook one last lemon tart. But the simple act of cooking awakens a long-forgotten joy and soon he’s restoring flavour, dignity and delight to his fellow residents. Meanwhile, his estranged sister, Lisa, is grappling with a late-in-life ADHD diagnosis, an unexpected romance and a frightening health reality of her own. As secrets simmer and second chances collide, both siblings are forced to confront what it really means to choose life.

Drawing on Anna Johnston’s experience working in aged care, the novel offers a rare and compassionate perspective on how people diagnosed with dementia are often dismissed, underestimated and quietly erased.

Attendee price: $11.78 bookings essential incl. light refreshment, gst & booking fee. Tickets can also be purchased at the Library. More information at https://ballaratmi.org.au/talks

Presented in partnership with Collins Booksellers on Lydiard.

This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. The 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.