AustLit

'Our Concealed Ballast weaves together reflections on motherhood, grief, attachment, and the moments that mark our movements through the world. It is a study of loss, its dimensions and atmosphere, and how these change over decades. A house on the river with a frangipani; an archive of drawings; a photograph taken by a father; a post office in West Harlem – the book pins together intimate moments and places which resonate to become a way of relating to the world. Renewing the memoir form within a spatial logic, passages communicating elusive ideas are precisely placed; these gather to deliver an emotionally taut reading across each spread of facing pages. Macken’s voice is direct and sparse, visceral and passionate, as she digs into the meaning and structure of the personal archive that we carry through life – the ballast of emotion and solace which keeps us steady.' (Publication summary)