About Buying In
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: New Harvest (November 5, 2013)
It’s October 2007, and twenty-two-year-old Sophie Landgraf is a small-town girl who hopes her new job as a Wall Street analyst will be her ticket to the American elite. She knew that giving her life over to the bank would be hard on her boyfriend, family, and friends, but she hadn’t realized it would send her into a spiral of self-doubt. After four months in this fast-paced, male-dominated world, Sophie is floundering-and things are about to get worse.
Boom times can’t last forever. With the crash looming and layoffs inevitable, Sophie’s attractive but ruthless boss Ethan Pearce pulls her into a multibillion-dollar merger that could make or break their careers. The problem? Ethan, devoted family-man Vasu Kumar, and straight-talking Ohio executive Jake Hutchinson each have very different reasons for advancing the merger, and Sophie doesn’t know who to trust. When the deal goes awry, she must decide how far she’ll go to get what she wants.
Set inside the fortresses of high finance, Manhattan’s after-hours clubs, and factories in the Midwest and India, this is the high-powered, heartfelt story of a young woman finding her footing on Wall Street as it crumbles underneath her. Written by an industry veteran, BUYING IN tackles what it means to be a woman in a man’s world, and how to survive in big business without sacrificing who you are.
“I read Buying In in one sitting. It sucks you into an adrenaline vortex, obliterating everything but the deal. Work swallows family, friends, and scruples. A gripping and thought-provoking read.” —Anne-Marie Slaughter, author of Why Women Still Can’t Have It All, is the Bert G. Kerstetter ’66 University Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University and the former Director of Policy Planning, United States Department of State
“With assured prose, a compulsively readable plot, and insider savvy, Buying In offers a front-row seat to the downfall of Wall Street, with a terrific young heroine who outmans the men without sacrificing her soul.” —Ayelet Waldman, author of Red Hook Road, Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, Bad Mother and Daughter’s Keeper
“Laura Hemphill writes about Wall Street with the granular knowledge of an industry insider and the incisive empathy of an outsider. Buying In is an absorbing and affecting study of high finance and the toll it takes on one’s non-capitalistic identity, with much to say about gender in the workplace, from a bright new literary talent.” —Teddy Wayne, author of The Love Song of Jonny Valentine and Kapitoil
“Laura Hemphill deftly pulls off a hat trick, offering readers an insider’s clear-eyed take on the subprime lending crisis, a chilling look at the lives of women in banking, and a briskly entertaining coming of age story. You’ll be thinking about her complicated, conflicted heroine, Sophie Landgraf, long after you devour the novel’s final pages.” —Joanna Smith Rakoff, author of A Fortunate Age
“In Buying In, Laura Hemphill provides us a ringside seat in the inner boardrooms of Manhattan’s investment banks in the months just before the financial crash. As her whip-smart, charmingly naïve protagonist Sophie attempts to navigate a deal that will make or break her career (and perhaps decide the future of the bank itself), you can’t help but root for her to succeed even as you fear she will. Hemphill effortlessly lays bare the complicated machinations of the banking industry with the breathless pacing of a thriller, and with remarkable assurance describes the very real pull between family and career, success and sacrifice, loyalty and self-preservation. A stunning debut which is sure to catapult the author onto must-read lists.” –Allison Amend, author of A Nearly Perfect Copy
About Laura Hemphill
After graduating from Yale, LAURA HEMPHILL spent seven years on Wall Street, where she worked at Lehman Brothers, Credit Suisse, and Dune Capital.
.
.
Laura Hemphill’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:
Monday, November 4th: Kritter’s Ramblings
Tuesday, November 5th: Entomology of a Bookworm
Wednesday, November 6th: Peppermint Ph.D.
Thursday, November 7th: BookChickDi
Friday, November 8th: Bibliotica
Sunday, November 10th: Staircase Wit
Monday, November 11th: The Well Read Redhead
Monday, November 18th: Luxury Reading
Tuesday, November 19th: Sarah’s Book Shelves
Wednesday, November 20th: A Bookish Affair
Thursday, November 21st: Walking with Nora
Monday, November 25th: Reading Reality
Tuesday, November 26th: Books and Movies
Monday, December 9th: Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile
TBD: Classy Cat Books
TBD: Tiny Library