Book description
Kate Telman is a senior executive officer in The Business, a powerful
and massively discreet transglobal organisation. Financially
transparent, internally democratic and disavowing conventional familial
inheritance, the character of The Business seems, even to Kate, to be
vague to the point of invisibility. It possesses, allegedly, a book of
Leonardo cartoons, several sets of Crown Jewels and wants to buy its own
State in order to acquire a seat at the United Nations. Kate's job is to
keep abreast of current technological developments and her global reach
encompasses Silicon Valley, a ranch in Nebraska, the firm's secretive
Swiss headquarters, and a remote Himalayan principality. In the course
of her journey Kate must peel away layers of emotional insulation and
the assumptions of a lifetime. She must learn to keep her world at arm's
length. To take control, she has to do The Business. Iain Banks came
to widespread and controversial notice with the publication of THE WASP
FACTORY, in 1984, and has since gained enormous popular and critical
acclaim. In 1993 he was acknowledged as one of the Best of Young British
Writers.
