We are very pleased to be giving away two copies of Jacqueline Owens’ book, ‘Vividwater’, 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!
About Vividwater
A dystopian AotearoaNZ is imagined by local writer Jacqueline Owens in this page-turning, thought-provoking novel.
…I don’t want to be one of those women who sits and waits for her man. I sit and wait. I am one of those women. He’s probably coming to tell me he’s married, has kids, just wants my friendship. Stuff that. I fantasise about blackmailing him, asking for half his water rations. I’d probably chicken out…
In a future world, only a few hydrospheres, like AotearoaNZ, have enough drinkable water, nearly all sold overseas. Alex is a mnemopath, a professional memory machine, at the main water trading bureau, WaiOra. Her job isn’t noble, selling water overseas while locals die of thirst. But she needed a job, and the extra water allowance.
Her humdrum life, struggling to earn enough water to live, is upended when her great love comes back to AotearoaNZ, after fifteen years in China. Alex’s world is transformed to one of excitement, danger and a relationship she has to hide.
Vividwater paints a disturbing view of the future where decades of drought have changed the face of AotearoaNZ, and the people who live there. But even in a society dominated by ruthlessness and thirst, there is still hope and glimmers of innocence. The echoes of the past that can redeem us live on in the most unlikely places.
Author Note
‘Vividwater is inspired by my love of dystopian speculative fiction and workplace novels, and changes in Wellington over the past few years.
While most dystopias are set after society has collapsed, I wanted to write about one where people are keeping up appearances. It’s an office world, where people work and scheme and compete in the guise of being colleagues – a strange kind of Jane Austen dystopia, except they are fighting for access to water, not husbands. It’s a world where water is a sign of wealth and status, not just a way to stay alive.
Professional memory machine, aka mnemopath, Alex has been surviving a dog-eat-dog existence until she’s almost lost the better parts of herself in the endless struggle for enough water. It takes her first love returning into her life for Alex to recover her kinder, idealistic side. But by the time she does, it might be too late for both of them.’
About the Author
Jacqueline Owens lives in Wellington. Vividwater was longlisted for Grindstone Literary International Novel Prize, and shortlisted twice in the Laura Solomon Cuba Press Prize. It is the first in a three-part series.
Excerpts and short stories from other manuscripts have been published in online journals. A screenplay, The Floating World, won the New Zealand Writers Guild (NZWG) Best Unproduced Screenplay Competition and another, Three Gardens, was a quarterfinalist in the Nicholl and Blue Cat competitions. A young adult novel, Bluest Moon, was published by New Women’s Press, in the 90s.
Outside writing, she has had mnemopath-like jobs in government and made the most of degrees in Classics and Political Science, as a grand-finalist on Mastermind New Zealand, with subjects The Chronicles of Narnia and Classical Greek Mythology. While doing a Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Screen and Television, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, she was a university teaching assistant and assessed screenplays for production companies.
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Terms and conditions
- You must be a GrownUps member and receive our newsletter to be eligible to win.
- Competition closes on the 30th April 2025, winners will be notified via email by 1st May 2025.
- 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.
- 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 in non transferrable.
- You must reside in New Zealand – the prize can only be redeemed within New Zealand.
- You must be over 50 years of age to enter, please check your details are correct in your membership dashboard.
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