Launched by novelist Toni Jordan at Readings Hawthorn, A Single Witness is Christine Balint’s fourth novel.
Inspired by a remarkable true story uncovered in the Venetian archives, A Single Witness follows a young girl in eighteenth-century Venice who speaks out against sexual abuse and, extraordinarily, is believed. Her testimony leads to a legal victory unprecedented for its time.
Drawing on extensive research undertaken in Italy, Christine brings this story to life with great sensitivity and historical insight, exploring themes of justice, courage, voice, and the enduring power of testimony.
The novel recently received a strong and thoughtful review on ABC Radio National’s program, The Bookshelf, where the panel praised Christine’s nuanced storytelling, meticulous research, and the book’s exploration of truth, memory, and moral responsibility. The review has generated wide interest among readers and booksellers and has further cemented the novel’s place among this year’s notable Australian literary releases.
Christine is an engaging interview subject and can speak about the fascinating true historical origins of the story, her years of archival research in Italy, the ethics of transforming real events into fiction, and the novel’s timely themes of justice, family ties, and whose voices are heard and believed.
Christine has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English and Modern European Studies. She has undertaken archival research in French, Italian and Hungarian. She has a PhD in Creative Arts from the University of Melbourne and has taught at the University of Melbourne and RMIT, and currently at La Trobe University.
Her third book, Water Music, won the 2021 Viva la Novella Prize. Her first novel, The Salt Letters, was shortlisted for the The Australian/Vogel Literary Award. Christine’s work has been published to critical acclaim in Australia, The United States, Germany and Italy. She was deemed one of Barnes & Noble’s Great New Writers in 2001.
Christine’s current work in progress, The Last Music Keeper of Venice, is a dual timeline narrative about the recovery of music manuscripts composed by historic female composers. It has received funding from Creative Australia, Creative Victoria and the Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarship.
Christine will be appearing at the Port Fairy Literary Weekend in September.