A Penny a Shell

Finalist – 2025 Wishing Shelf Book Awards
"A masterclass in suspense… haunting, beautiful, and breathtakingly tense." — Hugh Van Es, Bestselling Author, 'Hell in Paradise'.
For the invisible army of women fighting the Great War, the home front is the front line.
In 1916 Yorkshire, speed equals money. At the Barnbow National Filling Factory, a bonus scheme pays a penny for every artillery shell completed. For the women of Room 42, speed is the only way to survive—but in a factory thick with explosive TNT dust, speed also means catastrophe.

Inside the factory, one mistake changes everything.

Eliza Wren supervises her crew while her husband fights in France, balancing the safety of her workers against the relentless demand for more shells.

Sarah Jennings works beside her, steady and watchful, carrying a past she cannot afford to expose to the mounting paranoia of wartime Yorkshire.

Lucy Atkinson, just seventeen and grieving a brother lost at the Somme, is determined that her work on the home front will finally mean something.

As production targets rise and pressure builds, their lives move between the factory floor and fragile homes on the edge of survival.

Until the Barnbow explosion.

Inspired by real events and factory records, A Penny a Shell is a powerful WW1 novel about the women who kept Britain’s guns firing—and paid the hidden cost of war.

PRAISE FOR ANTONY J. BELL : A PENNY A SHELL

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A masterclass in suspense-this book grips your spine, squeezes your heart, and refuses to let go. Haunting, beautiful, and breathtakingly tense, it lingers long after the final page.'

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Authentic, grounded, and deeply moving. The author knows their WWI history, from TNT dust to factory shifts. A powerful story about the working-class Yorkshire women history tends to forget

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Beautifully written and emotionally rich. The three central women feel utterly real, and the historical detail is superb.’

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A compassionate and atmospheric novel that transcends its historical setting. By bringing hardship, courage, and the will to endure so vividly to life’

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A thoroughly enjoyable book.’

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A meaningful and honest read. The characters feel real and unforgettable, and the strength of the women shines through every struggle.’