Today, Hartford Books Examiner reviews Bond Girl (William Morrow, $24.99) by debut novelist Erin Duffy.
The book, released last month, draws wisely upon its author’s merits: Duffy graduated from Georgetown University in 2000 with a B.A. in English and then spent more than a decade working in fixed-income sales on Wall Street. Consequently, she knows her stuff - both as a wordsmith and as a ‘Bond Girl.’
Duffy’s protagonist, twenty-something Alex Garrett, set her sights on Wall Street the moment that her father, a banker at Sterling Price, invited her to spend the day at work with him when she was eight-years old. This up close look at life in the Financial District results in her eventual employment at the prestigious brokerage firm of Cromwell Pierce, where she must report to the terrifying (at least initially) Ed “Chick” Ciccone.
As a newbie analyst on the team, Alex must prove herself worthy of her position in what’s still an elitist old boy’s club. For starters, she’s desk-less and relegated to carrying around a folding chair from co-worker to co-worker as she attempts to learn the ropes. She’s known only as “Girlie.” Her most pressing responsibilities appear to be making sure that everybody’s coffee and lunch orders are correctly placed, picked up, and delivered. Her boss’s expectation is that she’ll be the first one in the office and the last one to leave. (Penalty for being late: Retrieving lunch for the team in the Bronx – and having to bring back a fifty-pound wheel of cheese at a personal expense of $1,000.) She’s also subject to the kind of blatant sexual harassment that one wouldn’t dare to report.
Understandably, most women don’t last long enough to make the transition from analyst (read: gofer) to associate. But Alex is not most women. She’s feisty, resourceful, and determined – qualities that earn her the (sometimes begrudging) respect of her colleagues. As she begins to advance in her career, even reclaiming a first name identity, she must also balance the ensuing complications. These include hiding an illicit office romance (one of the first offenses Chick cautioned her about), managing a high-profile professional relationship that the other party wants to make personal, and surviving the everyday politics that define life on ‘the Street.’
These challenges are compounded by the fact that, as events move into the year 2008, Wall Street is on the brink of the apocalypse. The life that Alex has worked so hard to establish, not to mention the hard-won camaraderie with her peers, is threatened by the ensuing financial crisis, which results in corporate restructuring, mass firings, and a palpable sense of fear that permeates the office. Still, Alex faces this impending doom with gumption, which ultimately makes hers a tale of redemption and empowerment.
Bond Girl manages to be many things at once: witty, wise, and wholly unputdownable. Erin Duffy has written a novel that’s almost like a cross between The Devil Wears Prada and The Nanny Diaries and yet still comes off as completely original (and entirely entertaining). Don’t dare to crack the cover unless you have a few hours to spare…
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A review copy of Bond Girl was provided by William Morrow.
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