No Small Shame

Australia, 1914. The world is erupting in war. Jobs are scarce and immigrants unwelcome. For young Catholic Mary O’Donnell, this is not the new life she imagined.

When one foolish night of passion leads to an unexpected pregnancy and a loveless marriage, Mary’s reluctant husband Liam escapes to the trenches. With her overbearing mother attempting to control her every decision, Mary flees to Melbourne determined to build a life for herself and her child. There, she forms an unlikely friendship with Protestant army reject Tom Robbins.

But as a shattering betrayal is revealed, Mary must make an impossible choice. Does she embrace the path fate has set for her, or follow the one she longs to take?

From the harshness of a pit village in Scotland to the upheaval of wartime Australia, No Small Shame tells the moving story of love and duty, loyalty and betrayal, and confronting the past before you can seek a future.

About the Author

Christine Bell is a Melbourne fiction writer. In 2019 she was awarded the inaugural HNSA Colleen McCullough Residency for an Established Author. In 2014, she was awarded a Varuna Retreat Fellowship for her YA novel manuscript, Prison Boy. Her other adult and children's short stories have won or been commended in national writing competitions and published in various anthologies. Prior to completing her Master of Creative Writing degree, Christine had 35 short fiction titles published for children. When she is not writing, Chris is learning to play the piano or day dreaming of her next research trip to France. No Small Shame is her first published adult historical novel.