Michelle is an award-winning writer who brings to life a remarkable range of characters and has begun an impressively productive career, winning attention in many awards, including the Age short story competition, the Grace Marion Wilson Award, and the Overland Victorian University Award. Her first collection of short stories, Fine, was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript and published by Allen & Unwin in 2016.
'A beautifully intimate portrait that celebrates the courage and resilience of the human spirit.' Jane Harper, author of The Survivors 'Historical fiction of the highest order ... An engrossing, deeply-satisfying read, one of the year's outstanding, not-to-be missed debuts. ' Melissa Ashley, author of The Birdman's Wife 'A powerful and elegantly wrought story of women's resistance. This is required reading for our times.' Myfanwy Jones, author of Leap '. . . a gripping, meticulously researched novel, and a nuanced, poetic and deeply serious exploration of the difference that individual choices can make in a society crumbling physically and morally. Wright recreates occupied Paris with immediacy and with melancholy tenderness . . . This is a book to savour and treasure.' Lee Kofman, author of Imperfect 'Small Acts of Defiance is a deeply moving evocation of war-torn 1940's Paris. It's a brave, beautifully written novel about what it means to be human in the face of brutality, and why it matters. Put simply, it's magnificent.' Laurie Steed, author of You Belong Here 'Michelle Wright has deftly combined a sweeping history of a city under occupation with the tiniest details of family life and the tenderness of friendship. Small Acts of Defiance asks questions from the last century that we're having to ask all over again: When is it no longer possible to look away? Is it right to risk the safety of loved ones, the prospect of a secure life, in the interests of the greater good? The skill of Wright's storytelling is in the empathy it demands of the reader. What would I have done here? And here? This is not just a recounting of well-known history, but an escalating series of moral challenges built around impressive research.' Jock Serong, author of The Burning Island