Our Concealed Ballast weaves together reflections on motherhood, grief, attachment, and place. 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 – the book joins intimate moments and places. Passages communicating elusive ideas gather to deliver an emotionally taut reading. 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.