We are very pleased to be giving away three copies of Roderick Fry’s book ‘A Message for Nasty’ 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!
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About A Message for Nasty
Based on a true story
Hong Kong, 1943. A family divided. Two desperate journeys.
‘The most chilling depiction of the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong and the horror facing young women I have read’ – Peter Graham, So Brilliantly Clever
What happens when a foreign power invades and occupies a country and threatens the civilian population with danger, starvation and death? Twenty-seven-year-old Marie Broom, mother of four young children, is about to find out.
Marie and her husband Vincent have a pleasant life on Hong Kong Island. Vincent is a New Zealander; Marie, born in Macau, is Portuguese Chinese. Married for ten years, the couple have daughters aged 9, 8 and 6 and a 14-month-old son.
Vincent’s job as a marine engineer often takes him overseas. At this moment he is in Singapore working on a salvage job. It is December 8, 1941. In a few hours their lives will change forever.
Marie wakes to the sound of bombs falling. Within days, Japanese soldiers have invaded the island. The Brooms’ apartment building is surrounded. Most British residents are interned. Food runs short. Danger is everywhere.
For nearly two years, Marie struggles to protect her children in the face of the brutal occupation. Meanwhile, Vincent tries desperately to escape Singapore – after it too is attacked by the Japanese – and rescue his family, undertaking a perilous journey across China that will bring him close to death. Along the way he will encounter hordes of people fleeing in the opposite direction, and wartime heroes risking their lives to help.
An emotional journey as powerful as any of the great war classics, but even more powerful because it is true’ – Sam Trubridge
Roderick Fry, a prize-winning New Zealand designer, has worked in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Shanghai and now lives in Paris.
From 1999, he retraced the route taken by Vincent Broom, his maternal grandfather, across China during the Second World War to rescue his wife and children in Japanese-occupied Hong Kong – beginning a project to write a historically accurate novel based on this incredible story. The project took him longer than he had ever anticipated. He presented the first draft to publisher Mary Varnham in 2013. Not publishable, she said, but a fabulous story. She encouraged him to start again, to write the story ‘cinematically’. For years she heard nothing. Then in 2022 Rod sent her a new manuscript, a vivid, intensely moving book you will not be able to put down, or easily forget.
Terms and conditions
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- You must be a GrownUps member and receive our newsletter to be eligible to win.
- Competition closes on the 6th September 2022, winners will be notified via email by 8th September 2022.
- It is your responsibility to ensure you correctly enter a New Zealand postal address where the prize can be couriered. GrownUps will not take responsibility for prizes sent to incorrect addresses.
- Winners are drawn at random by the GrownUps administration team.
- GrownUps employees and family are not eligible to enter.
- By entering the giveaway, you approve for GrownUps to use your name on social media as winner of the competition.
- One entry per person.
- Prize is non transferrable.
- You must reside in New Zealand – the prize will only be posted within New Zealand.
- You must be over 50 years of age to enter, check your details are correct in your membership dashboard.