Vividwater

By Jacqueline Owens

Shortlisted for the NZ Booklovers Award for Best Adult Fiction Book 2026.

Shortlisted twice for the Laura Solomon Cuba Press Prize

New Zealand speculative fiction, a future world that is running out of clean water, where only the water-rich have a secure supply.

A Jane Austen corporate dystopia of surface politeness and dirty deals, all with one aim - to control and get rich from dwindling supplies of water.

Climate fiction at its most darkly humorous, in a satire of office politics where everyone has something to hide.

A woman trapped in a corporate dystopia knows she's on the wrong side: but she needed the job and the water allowance. From the wrong side of the tracks, she's a near invisible office drone, whose only asset is her carefully trained memory and what she knows. Then an old love returns from years overseas, leading to a secret affair, with constant temptation of betrayal.

Meet Alex Pym, corporate drudge and mnemopath, a human memory machine. Her job is to remember everything to make her bosses looks like geniuses. Her mission in life used to be to get enough water to survive. Then her old love, Lawrence, returns, and Alex's life is transformed to excitement, riches and secrets she has to hide.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0473730278
• ISBN13: 9780473730277
• Release Date: April 2025
• Publisher: Four Elements Press
• Length: 268 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"