We are very pleased to be giving away one of two copies of Joseph Howse’s book ‘The Girl in the Water’, 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 The Girl in the Water
A beautifully written coming of age story set in the last days of the Soviet Union
The Girl in the Water is the story of a multiethnic group of young friends whose lives are shaped by an Afghan war, the Chernobyl disaster, and the collapse and legacy of a suffocating society.
Scenes of shortwave listening and roaming the hinterlands provide a symbolic backdrop to these young characters’ search for themselves within a failing civilization that sees non-cooperation and unhappiness as a disease.
The book introduces a multilayered story of family, society, and nature, centering on a Soviet girl, Nadia, who, one day on a remote beach, looks up from her book to see that her friend is drowning.
Nadia is an abstract thinker growing up in an era of endgames. She is a bookworm, an architect of reckless pranks, a day-and-night wanderer, a compulsive witness, and a note-taker. All around her she sees people quietly gambling with life and soul for little apparent gain.
Taking inspiration from various classics, including Russian, French, and English, The Girl in the Water also draws on historical research and the author’s impressions of Ukraine (visited in 2012) and Estonia (in 2017).
‘I wrote the novel’s first drafts from May 2020 to February 2022, to read to my parents as a serial during COVID lockdowns,’ says Joseph.
‘But above all, I write for the love of the characters, of the way each one inhabits the world and the day. This novel emerged from characters whose cares are both miniature and colossal.’
The book examines life and choice in the aftermath of trauma and has garnered praise as both a lifelike family drama and a literary statement in the tradition of the Russian classics.
‘Perhaps surprisingly, there is a lot of joy in this novel, and for me in writing it, because being truthful about suffering does not negate the good things in life, certainly the absurdity does not negate the humour, and any hour I can write is a good hour if you ask me.’
‘As for people reading the book, I hope they find something to keep, something well-made, and beautiful, and honest, and real. We all need those things as antidotes to the opposite.’
The Girl in the Water is a tragicomedy. An intricate study of beauty and futility in everyday life and a call for compassion and humour in a cruel world.
International Praise for the book:
“The author includes emotional, compelling scenes with every character, as each one has been dealt a vastly different hand of cards.” — Audrey Davis, Independent Book Review
“Joseph Howse evokes the literary styles of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky … Howse’s novel feels Russian, from its ornate structure to its social commentary to its wry humor. The author has composed a book like Tchaikovsky would a symphony; tight, disciplined, yet bubbling with unspoken passion and near-magical allegory.” — Rob Errera, IndieReader
About Joseph Howse
Joseph Howse is an author of technical books on computer programming and image analysis. He lives in a Nova Scotian fishing village, where he chats with his cats and nurtures an orchard of hardy fruit trees. The Girl in the Water is his debut novel. As a computer scientist specializing in image analysis, Joseph evokes the 1980s in photographic detail in a novel that holds a mirror to myths of progress and victory.
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 11th April 2023, winners will be notified via email by 13th April 2023.
- 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 household.
- 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.