The Connecticut stereotype in the late ' 90s as a wealthy suburb with 8-acre estates, expensive private schools and a real estate boom is the setting for this novel of tall privacy hedges and private hedge funds . Fortunately for the readers of Stephen Amidon's novel, stereotyping is not one of the novel's characteristics.
Publisher's Weekly calls Human Capital an exceptional novel which "delves deeper and more passionately into the fractured lives of people whose lives revolve around money." A troubled hedge fund in the novel complicates the life of Drew Hegel, a clueless father and a struggling real estate broker, leading to a morally insupportable decision which accelerates the novel to its tragic closing. The "taut, compelling plot" ( The Times of London ) with its unflinching attention to the parenting of teenagers; to marital relations which clash with becoming wealthy, staying wealthy and trying to keep up with the wealthy; to social climbing; and to the use of others-human capital-as springboards to personal gain all serve to drive the story.
John Walsh will moderate the discussion. Refreshments will be served, compliments of The Friends. Copies of the book will be available at the Circulation Desk.
