Margins

Currently seeking literary agent representation

 

Laura Channing and her husband, Gary, partner with Alexandra, Gary’s former mentee, to grow their health and wellness business in early-90s Minnesota. Alexandra’s shrewd strategies and lust to prove herself impress them both early on. But, Alexandra soon goes too far. She subverts both their partnership and their reputation by soliciting feedback from employees under false pretenses. The frustrated couple, unable to end their partnership, redefine her role instead. Alexandra seems chastened until the sudden illness of the Channings’ daughter takes Laura both out of the office and out of Alexandra’s way.

Hushed whispers of closed door meetings and long, intimate lunches between Gary and Alexandra reach Laura while she’s on leave. When she returns to her business, loyalties have shifted. The weeks pass, but Laura gains nothing but a few extra pounds–a fact Alexandra exploits with merciless precision. Painted as a threat to the success of her own company, a humiliated Laura surprises almost everyone, including her husband, by turning her back on her beloved business.

Her company, born from her love of people, not profit, seems all but lost. Her marriage hangs in the balance. She must choose: abandon her business (and her husband), or embrace the cut-throat, backstabbing tactics she abhors to oust her rival and save what’s left of her dream.