Dear Money Author:Martha McPhee In this Pygmalion tale of a novelist turned bond trader, Martha McPhee brings to life the greed and riotous wealth of New York during the heady days of the second gilded age. India Palmer, living the cash-strapped existence of the writer, is visiting wealthy friends in Maine when she meets Win Johns, a swaggering and intellectually bored trader ... more »of mortgage-backed securities. Charmed by India’s intelligence, humor, and inquisitive nature—and aware of her near-desperate financial situation—Win poses a proposition: "Give me eighteen months and I’ll make you a world-class bond trader." Shedding her artist’s life with surprising ease, India embarks on a raucous ride to the top of the income chain. With light-handed irony and the striking prose that has won her critical acclaim, McPhee tells the classic American story of people reinventing themselves, unaware of the price they must pay for their transformation.« less