A Message for Nasty

Marie Broom and her husband Vincent enjoy a pleasant life on Hong Kong Island. Vincent is a New Zealander. Marie is Portuguese-Chinese. Married for ten years, the couple have four adored children – daughters aged 9, 8 and 5 and a baby son of 14 months. Vincent' s job as a marine engineer often takes him overseas. It is December 8, 1941. In a few hours their lives will change forever. Marie wakes in the family' s home to the sound of bombs falling. Within days, Japanese soldiers have invaded the island. Their building is surrounded. Most British residents are rapidly interned. Vincent is in Singapore. Soon he too is trapped as that island comes under attack. Marie, the children and the family' s four live-in amahs must face the increasingly brutal Japanese occupation alone. This page-turning novel, based on a true story, tells of Marie' s struggle to save her children from danger, disease and starvation and Vincent' s incredible attempt to rescue them. Legendary figures appear, from New Yorker correspondent Emily Hahn to Lindsay Ride, founder of British Army Aid Group. But at its heart this is a story of the hard and heart-wrenching decisions that must be made in wartime. ' While many families have a family story that could warrant a book, not many have a storyteller with the tale-telling talent, tenacity and researching chops to make it happen. Roderick Fry … exhibits all three. A Message for Nasty would have been an extraordinarily difficult story to write. The historical details are complicated, and evidence or memory of conversations are long gone. ' Fry has done a remarkable job in ensuring historical accuracy whilst giving us a story that is gripping. … A Message for Nasty is a natural fit for any reader who enjoys war history and nonfiction but offers enough high-stakes action for a fiction fan too. Some might say it has it all: a great love, a terrible war and the adventure that allows the former to thrive despite the latter' – Hannah Tunnicliffe