Acclaimed Australian author and widow of former prime minister Bob Hawke, Blanche d’Alpuget, has died aged 82 following a short illness.

D’Alpuget died at Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital, her family confirmed on Wednesday. In a final message she had asked her family to share publicly, d’Alpuget reflected on what she believed mattered most.

“Our highest calling and greatest achievement is love, the rule of life. Love one another.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese led tributes to the celebrated writer, declaring Australia had “lost a true one-off”.

“As a writer, she was at home in fiction as she was in non-fiction, working in each realm with a keen eye for every telling detail that opened up the humanity of her subject to her readers,” Albanese said.

Although d’Alpuget became known to millions of Australians through her relationship with Hawke, she was already an accomplished novelist, biographer and essayist. Her bestselling 1982 book Robert J. Hawke: A Biography won the NSW Premier’s Award.

Her novels included Monkeys in the Dark, Turtle Beach, Winter in Jerusalem and White Eye, which collected literary honours including the PEN Golden Jubilee Award, The Age Novel of the Year Award and South Australian Premier’s Award.

She later continued Hawke’s story in Hawke: The Prime Minister, before the works were brought together in Bob Hawke: The Complete Biography.

D’Alpuget and Hawke’s relationship began in the 1970s. They married in 1995 following the end of Hawke’s marriage to his first wife, Hazel, and remained together until the former prime minister’s death aged 89 in May 2019.

Less than a year after Hawke’s death, d’Alpuget was diagnosed with breast cancer. She later spoke candidly about dealing with cancer while grieving her husband and, more recently, about preparing for her own death.

D’Alpuget is survived by her son, sculptor Louis Pratt, three Hawke stepchildren and step-grandchildren.

Her family chose to farewell her with the message she had left behind: “Love one another.”