Bad Money

Mary Kersey has burst through the glass ceiling. She has a high-profile City job giving strategic advice to banks. She's the family breadwinner, a loving wife and a caring mother to Gracie, and she struggles to find the right balance between her work and her home life. Her two worlds collide when the Treasury asks Mary to take on a secret role investigating dirty dealings surrounding ever-more-powerful hedge funds. She knows that the company her firm is working with was acquired after manipulation of the share price plus a good deal of help from a dodgy hedge fund. She finds herself torn every which way as husband, daughter, boss, her own conscience - all clamour for her attention. When matters take a dark turn, Mary discovers just how vulnerable she is. Standing between men and their money is a very dangerous place to be...

LOUISE PATTEN has worked in business since 1977, first in the banking world and then with strategy consultants Bain & Company. While still in her thirties, Louise broke through the corporate glass ceiling to become a main board director of her first FTSE 100 company. She has served on a number of multi-national Boards, not only as a Director, but also as one of the tiny handful of female chairmen of major UK businesses.