Other People's Money
A Novel
By Justin Cartwright
April 2011
$15.00
272 pp
5.5 x 8.25 in
Paperback
ISBN-10: 1608192733
Other People's Money
A Novel
By Justin Cartwright
April 2011
$15.00
272 pp
5.5 x 8.25 in
Paperback
By Justin Cartwright
In a world still uneasy after the financial turmoil of 2008, Justin Cartwright puts a human face on the dishonesties and misdeeds of the bankers who imperiled us. Tubal and Co. is a small, privately owned bank in England. As the company's longtime leader, Sir Harry Tubal, slips into senility, his son Julian takes over the reins-and not all is well. The company's hedge fund now owns innumerable toxic assets, and Julian fears what will happen when their real value is discovered.
Artair Macleod, an actor manager whose ex-wife, Fleur, was all but stolen by Sir Harry, discovers that his company's monthly grant has not been paid by Tubal. Getting no answers from Julian, he goes to the local press, and an eager young reporter begins asking questions. Bit by bit, the reporter discovers that the grant money is in fact a payoff from Fleur, written off by the bank as a charitable donation, and a scandal breaks. Julian's temperament and judgment prove a bad fit for the economic forces of the era, and the family business plunges into chaos as he tries to hide the losses and massage the balance sheet.
A story both cautionary and uncomfortably familiar, Other People's Money is not a polemic but a tale of morality and hubris, with the Tubal family ultimately left searching only for closure. Bold, humane, urbane, full of rich characters, and effortlessly convincing, this is a novel that reminds us who we are and how we got ourselves here.
Advance Praise for Other People’s Money:
“Other People’s Money is wise, droll and beautiful fiction.”—David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas
Reviews for Other People’s Money:
“Acerbic and entertaining…[Bankers] may be the bad guys here, but the people determined to excavate the truth, the journalists, are just as absurd, delusional, and self-absorbed as those they’re seeking to expose. Cartwright skewers everyone.”—New York Times Book Review
Minneapolis Star Tribune includes Justin Cartwright’s Other People's Money on their Summer Reading list and says:
"Cartwright's wickedly dark comedy puts a human face on the recent banking crisis. The author brings readers inside the life of Julian Tubal, manager of a hedge fund that's teetering on the brink of collapse. As Tubal works to cover up the toxic nature of the hedge fund's assets, he fears that his investors will discover the truth and pull their money out, ruining him. Cartwright's sharply drawn characters are fueled by excess and self-serving ethics. See article
“the best novel of 2011, so far”—Boston Globe. Read full review.
“Satirical…valedictory…mourning…Other People’s Money is a miniature modernization of Anthony Trollope’s The Way We Live Now.”—Wall Street Journal
“In Every Face I Meet, The Promise of Happiness, and the just-published Other People's Money, are absolute marvels of comedy and intellectual depth.”—bnreview.com, lead review. Read full review.