COMP CLOSED | Book Giveaway | The Girl from Sarajevo

THE GIRL-FROM-SAREJEVO
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We are very pleased to be giving away two copies of Stef Harris’ book, ‘The Girl from Sarajevo’, to our GrownUps members.

All you need to do to enter the draw is be a GrownUps member, make sure you’re signed up to our newsletter and fill in your details near the bottom of the page!

THE GIRL-FROM-SAREJEVOAbout The Girl from Sarajevo

These two novellas by award-winning author Stef Harris are dark and funny, and both stories focus on strong women facing life challenges.

The Girl from Sarajevo

Young and self-assured immigrant Katia will do anything to become a novelist. When she encounters her neighbour, an aging novelist from the old country, she embarks on an audacious plan to represent Dragan’s new novel as her own. Weaponising her sexuality, she enters into a cynical, twisted affair with the elder wordsmith. But Dragan holds a dangerous secret that may destroy them both.

The Other Jasmine

Wong Ji Li is a Chinese mail-order bride who, on arriving in Auckland, discovers her new husband-to-be is not a wealthy land owner and IT business executive. He is, in fact, living with his mother in a farmhouse on sickness benefit, and his IT business is selling bric a brac on TradeMe. Wong Ji Li attempts to make the best of the situation but finds herself enslaved by Darryl and his overbearing mother Donna. They rename her Jasmine because it’s too hard to say Wong Ji Li, and she is treated as a servant. Soon, she discovers evidence in the house of a previous mail-order bride also named Jasmine. And nobody knows what happened to the other Jasmine. Did she run away? Was she murdered? Wong Ji Li is in a predicament.

Stef Harris’s two filmic novellas share one key element in common: a heroine we come to admire for her determination to make her way in the world, at all costs.

The Girl from Sarajevo and The Other Jasmine are two stories inspired by Stef’s time as a community constable working with immigrant women victims of family violence. None of the events in the stories are real, but they are all true. All of these things were inflicted on women. Stef’s job was to follow up on victims of violence to ensure their ongoing safety. In so doing, he gained some insight into the female immigrant experience. These stories are important to him because he knows the women.

Stef wrote the stories as film scripts initially, but the stories cried out for a deeper understanding, and it became clear they needed to be written in full as a book or novella. So over the Covid lockdown (a time when Stef could scarcely get a day off front-line police work), he wrote the stories in a few short weeks, each of them expanding to the exact length they wanted to be. He has always loved novellas – Of Mice and Men, Metamorphosis, Heart of Darkness, Animal Farm, and The Old Man and the Sea.

About the Author

Stef Harris is a writer, film director and a frontline police officer of 34 years who, in 2017, was awarded the Commissioner’s Commendation for Bravery.

He has published three previous works of fiction and, in 2006, turned his first novel, The Waikikamukau Conspiracy, into a film. Renamed ‘The Waimate Conspiracy,’ the film went on to win four best film awards around the world and sparked the beginning of Stef’s sideline career in filmmaking. His arthouse feature film ‘Blue Moon’ has won several film awards as well as being officially selected for the prestigious Cannes Antipodes Film Festival, screening in Cannes in 2022.

His most recent novel, Double Jeopardy, was longlisted in the Ngaio March Awards and shortlisted for the NZ Booklovers Awards. Stef lives in Motueka with his wife, Pegeen.

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Terms and conditions

    1. You must be a GrownUps member and receive our newsletter to be eligible to win.
    2. Competition closes on the 9th April 2025, winners will be notified via email by 10th April 2025.
    3. It is your responsibility to ensure you correctly enter a New Zealand postal address where the prize can be sent. GrownUps will not take responsibility for prizes sent to incorrect addresses.
    4. Winners are drawn at random by the GrownUps administration team.
    5. GrownUps employees and family are not eligible to enter.
    6. By entering the giveaway, you approve for GrownUps to use your name on social media as winner of the competition.
    7. One entry per household.
    8. Prize in non transferrable.
    9. You must reside in New Zealand – the prize can only be redeemed within New Zealand.
    10. You must be over 50 years of age to enter, please check your details are correct in your membership dashboard.