In the world of high finance, reflects Cath, women are about as welcome as fleas in a sleeping bag. She's in a unique position to note this fact. A confirmed liberal who can scarcely contain her own sarcastic wit, she is a spy in the house of Mammon: a speechwriter for self-important plutocrats, disguising their greed with lulling words. Cath has found herself on Wall Street because she needs serious money. After ten good years, her beloved husband, Bailey, is suffering from a tragically early case of Alzheimer's.

So begins Cath's journey into two nightmare worlds. Caught between them, she must grasp at whatever will keep her from falling apart -- even if that means risking moral hazard.

Kate Jennings' prose is lean yet rich in telling detail. Tense and compulsively readable, Moral Hazard reveals the soap-bubble fragility of this closed world and the steely strength of the people who inhabit it.