Bankers behaving badly is a sore subject in the current economic climate but it is one which is only beginning to attract the literary attentions of novelists. One of the best such novels has just been published by the prize-winning London-based South African writer Justin Cartwright.
Other People’s Money tells the story of an upper-crust, family-owned, private bank, Tubal and Co, which gets into trouble when it deviates from its age-old mission of looking after the toffs’ money and diversifies into the murkier world of investment banking. Family patriarch, Sir Harry, has suffered a stroke and is recovering in his villa in Antibes. This leaves his son and new chairman, Julian Trevelyan-Tubal, free to take the sort of liberties Sir Harry would never have countenanced.
Julian has lost the bank a packet on a dodgy hedge fund and now, in an effort to sell the bank behind Sir Harry’s back, he needs to pad the balance sheet, moving money around to make it look more saleable to the Americans poised to purchase the house of Tubal. Sound familiar?
Things begin to go awry when a regular endowment to Artair MacLeod, the first husband of Sir Harry’s wife, Fleur, becomes one of the first casualties in the makeover of the bank’s finances. A local paper takes up the story and attracts the attention of a whistle-blower eager to dish the dirt on Julian and his nefarious scheming.
With Sir Harry near death, the urgency to sell the bank and resolve the succession brings out the worst in a memorable cast of characters which includes the trophy wife, the black sheep, the scorned but faithful secretary, and the memorable Artair who, however buffoonish, represents the enduring values of art while the barbarians are at the gate. There is also an intriguing Irish theme involving Flann O’Brien and Daniel Day-Lewis.
This is a cracking satire on a topical subject and it is beautifully observed. Enjoy.
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