COMP CLOSED: Book Giveaway | Unholy Business

An endearing novel set in the 1960s based on a true story, with headstrong female characters, a Vatican scandal and the poultry industry!

England in 1963. Alice is at boarding school in Sussex, Sylvia is drinking in her bedroom and Quentin is hatching plots to extend his poultry empire to Italy in cahoots with the Vatican. It is a year of family transitions and a summer trip to Rome … but will the chickens come home to roost?

‘The plot is pacey and the writing style reminiscent of Agatha Christie or Nancy Mitford – genre authors who, like West, evoke a different era – and, also like West, are unputdownable. Much of the very great charm of this book, and its convincing setting and social landscape, lies in its wry observations of character, and a vivid portrait of upper- middleclass English life in the early 1960s.’ Jenny Nicholls, Waiheke Weekender.

‘What an engaging, cheerful, utterly absorbing read! Unholy Business is an upbeat but insightful novel that transports the reader to 1960s England, with a headstrong schoolgirl navigating the restraints of a constricted “privileged” upbringing, with unexpected events thrown her way that change the course of her life.’

Author’s note:

‘This is a fictionalised account of a true story, that happened to me as a schoolgirl in the 1960s. I lived the experience, with the truth being stranger than fiction. This novel is made up of true and embroidered bits mixed with complete fabrications, things half-remembered and mis/overheard; fragments from a year in my life sixty years ago. The originals of any characters taken from life are long gone now and my own children know better than to believe most of it!’

About the author:

Nora West was born in England and was educated privately from the tender age of eight. She did get to Art School – obtaining degrees in Textiles from Goldsmiths College, London, and later in Art & Design in NZ. She married a New Zealander and they raised their four children in Gloucestershire; the family moved to Auckland in 1982. Nora has lived between Auckland and Waiheke Island since then, lecturing in Community Arts at Unitec and Whitecliffe, managing an art gallery, working in the prison and mental health sectors, and active in women’s and environmental issues. She now has six mokopuna and has settled permanently on Waiheke Island, where she helps run a recycled crafts collective called Upcycle. She drives an elderly EV, keeps free-range bantams, composts, and sings with Sister Shout a cappella choir.

Terms and conditions

1. 1. You must be a GrownUps member and receive our newsletter to be eligible to win.
   2. Competition closes on the 19th April 2022, winners will be notified via email by 21st April 2022.
   3. As a competition winner, you must confirm you have received our email notifying you of the win within three days. If we have not heard from you in three days the prize will be redrawn, and your prize will be forfeit.
   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 person.
   8. Prize in non transferrable.
   9. You must reside in New Zealand – the prize will only be posted within New Zealand.
   10. You must be over 50 years of age to enter, check your details are correct in your membership dashboard.